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Kevin Lankinen

Nashville Predators Extend Kevin Lankinen

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The Nashville Predators have found their backup goaltender. Kevin Lankinen has signed a one-year, $2MM contract extension for the 2023-24 season, keeping him from unrestricted free agency this summer.

After the disappointing performance of David Rittich as Juuse Saros’ backup last year, the team signed Lankinen to a one-year, $1.5MM deal last summer after he left Chicago. It turned out to be quite the investment, as the 27-year-old netminder has been outstanding in his limited role, posting a .922 save percentage in 14 appearances. With Saros taking the vast majority of starts, the Predators just need someone reliable behind him, that can keep them in games on back-to-back nights.

Maybe more importantly, they need someone they will feel comfortable with if Saros ever goes down to injury. That’s what happened just before the 2022 playoffs, forcing the team to go with Rittich, who lasted all of 15 minutes against the dominant Colorado Avalanche attack, before ceding the net to third-string Connor Ingram. While Ingram did his best, the Avalanche walked to a first-round sweep over the Predators, and showed them the importance of a strong backup goaltender.

Enter Lankinen, who burst onto the NHL scene as a rookie in 2020, posting a .909 save percentage behind a bad Blackhawks roster. He got some down-ballot Calder Trophy love that year, and while he couldn’t replicate it in 2021-22, is showing this year that he’s a capable NHL netminder.

The one-year deal doesn’t secure his services long-term but takes one more thing off the to-do list for incoming general manager Barry Trotz. The Predators are in a period of uncertainty going into the summer as potential sellers, after moving Mattias Ekholm and Tanner Jeannot over the last few days. With a ton of draft capital to play with, but still several high-priced veterans on the roster, it’s not clear how exactly Trotz will go about reshaping the roster. One thing he doesn’t have to worry about is goaltending, with Saros and Lankinen in place for 2023-24.

Nashville Predators Reassign Yaroslav Askarov

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Jan 13: Askarov has been sent back down after making 31 saves in his NHL debut last night.

Jan 11: With Kevin Lankinen unavailable to dress for the Predators tonight in Toronto, they’ve brought up a top prospect to take his place as they announced that netminder Yaroslav Askarov has been recalled from AHL Milwaukee.  In a corresponding move, defenseman Roland McKeown was sent back to the Admirals.

The 20-year-old was Nashville’s first-round pick in 2020 (11th overall), the highest a goalie had been taken in a decade.  He was dominant in limited action in the KHL over the last couple of seasons and decided to make the jump across the pond for 2022-23.  Askarov is off to a good start to his first season in North America, posting a 2.66 GAA along with a .905 SV% and two shutouts in 22 appearances with Milwaukee.

As for McKeown, this is his second trip to the minors this month, an assignment that was needed as Lankinen remains on the active roster for the time being and no word yet on how long he might be out; the team noted (Twitter link) that the move was for precautionary reasons.  The blueliner has played in five games for Nashville this season – his first NHL action since 2017-18 – and has eight points in 25 games at the AHL level.

Nashville Predators Sign Kevin Lankinen, Three Others

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The Nashville Predators supplemented their NHL/AHL fringe depth on defense yesterday, and they’re doing the same today on offense. The team announced a trio of signings separately on Thursday afternoon, signing Kiefer Sherwood to a one-year, one-way $750K contract, and Mark Jankowski and Cole Smith to one-year, two-way $750K contracts. They also signed former Chicago Blackhawks netminder Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $1.5MM contract to back up starter Juuse Saros.

Despite Nashville receiving strong play from Connor Ingram in limited regular-season appearances and even turning to him as a starter in the playoffs over David Rittich, the team’s opted to bury him on the depth chart for another season. Lankinen had a rough season with the Blackhawks in 2021-22 after an up-and-down rookie campaign the year prior, finishing the year with an 8-15-6 record, 3.50 goals against average, and .891 save percentage. He’ll look to improve on those numbers (and stay healthy) on a more fortified Nashville team.

Sherwood, Jankowski, and Smith will be charged with playing top AHL roles once again, something they’re getting used to in their careers. Sherwood and Jankowski especially will be strong call-up options in case of injury with decent amounts of NHL experience.

Update On Chicago Blackhawks Goaltending

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Now that the draft lottery gave the Chicago Blackhawks some clarity on their draft pick situation, Chicago’s front office’s focus can now shift to their offseason plans more earnestly. With new GM Kyle Davidson set to pursue a full rebuild of the team, there are many items on his offseason to-do list that he’ll need to consider. Perhaps the most immediately pressing on-ice issue is the situation of the team’s goaltending.

The Blackhawks were not a strong team this season, and the performances of their goalies reflected that, especially after the mid-season trade of Marc-Andre Fleury. The Blackhawks used four goalies this season, and Fleury’s .908 save percentage in 45 games made him the only member of the four-person group to post above a .900 mark. Kevin Lankinen regressed from his strong rookie-season form and turned in an .891 save percentage, 3.50 goals-against-average performance in 32 games of work. That regression left question marks about his future in Chicago. Lankinen is a pending unrestricted free agent, and Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link) reported that a source said that Lankinen and the Blackhawks “have not begun negotiations” on a potential contract extension.

With that report in mind, an important question is brought up: If Davidson views next season as one where player development is prioritized over winning as many games as possible, (and that certainly seems to be the case) is trusting Lankinen the best route to take? The Blackhawks are a team looking to get younger and develop their young players. Maintaining young players’ confidence levels is an important aspect of player development, and there are few things that can damage a young team’s confidence in a single game more than unreliable goaltending, especially for young defensemen.

When asked about the team’s goaltending situation, Davidson seemed to acknowledge that looking to bring in outside help might be the best option for his team to weather what most expect to be a difficult 2022-23 season. Davidson said:

We definitely need to bring some NHL contracts in. Kevin and Collin are part of that discussion, they’re not out of that candidate list, but there’s some players that we’ll look at in free agency and see which direction we want to go, not ruling out the trade market either.

This summer’s crop of free-agent goaltenders holds some promise for the team, but their direction as an openly rebuilding club could stand in the way of any major acquisitions. Headliners Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell seem unlikely for that reason, and a reunion with Fleury is also highly unlikely. Perhaps Davidson could go in a direction similar to Detroit GM Steve Yzerman last summer, when Yzerman pounced on the opportunity to acquire a young goalie coming off of a breakout season, landing 2021 Calder Finalist Alex Nedeljkovic from the Hurricanes. There are some intriguing breakout names on the market for Davidson to pursue, such as St. Louis’ Ville Husso and Dallas’ Scott Wedgewood.

Regardless of whatever direction they choose to go in net, it’s clear that the Blackhawks are unsettled at the game’s most important position. Given all of the factors that go into choosing a goaltender, though, it’s likely that Davidson’s choice of netminder will help clarify exactly what his front office’s intentions are for the near future of this team.

Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Kevin Lankinen Lands On Injured Reserve

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The Chicago Blackhawks placed goalie Kevin Lankinen on injured reserve with a right-hand injury today. The team recalled Arvid Soderblom from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs to compensate for the injury.

Lankinen played yesterday against the Minnesota Wild, making 40 saves in an overtime loss. NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis reports Lankinen is expected to miss roughly three weeks with the injury.

For that period of time, it’ll be Soderblom’s and Marc-Andre Fleury’s net. Soderblom played his first two NHL games earlier this year, registering a .881 save percentage.

Lankinen has just a .890 save percentage in 13 games this season, good enough for a 2-5-4 record.

If the three-week timeline holds up, Lankinen could return to the active roster for the team’s Valentines’ Day game against Winnipeg.

 

Central Notes: Borowiecki, Lankinen, Spurgeon, Jets

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Nashville’s list of players in COVID protocol continues to grow as the team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Mark Borowiecki along with another member of their travelling party have been placed in COVID protocol.  The blueliner becomes the eighth active Predators player on the list of those unavailable to play while five other staff members – including their coaching staff – aren’t with the team at the moment either.  Despite that, they are not among the teams that have had games postponed yet with the Preds taking on Chicago tonight.

More from the Central Division:

  • Although the Blackhawks have just one goaltender under contract for next season (prospect Arvid Soderblom), the team has not yet engaged in extension discussions with either Kevin Lankinen or Marc-Andre Fleury, reports Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link). While Fleury is understandable – there’s no word on whether or not he’d be open to the idea and that needs to be determined before starting talks – the fact that they haven’t discussed anything with Lankinen’s camp is a bit surprising.  His numbers are down a bit from last season but with his limited NHL experience (just 47 career games), he’s someone that should be cheaper than several veteran backups to keep around.  With several key players needing new deals for next season, securing at least one goalie should be fairly high on interim GM Kyle Davidson’s list over the coming weeks.
  • Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon re-aggravated his lower-body injury and had already been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Florida before it was postponed earlier today, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Speaking after the game, head coach Dean Evason had a rather grim comment about his captain’s health, simply saying “It’s not good” which suggests Spurgeon could be out a little longer than just a game or two.
  • The Jets are the latest team to have to cut their capacity, announcing (Twitter link) that their capacity will be cut to 50% for four of their upcoming games beginning on Tuesday. Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal have all had their capacity cut in recent days in accordance with provincial health guidelines.

Mike Hardman, Kevin Lankinen Absent Due To COVID Protocols

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While things are mostly back to normal in terms of the schedule and divisional alignment this season, there are some things that haven’t changed. One of those is the continual risk of players being forced to miss practices and games due to COVID protocols. Last year we saw a daily COVID Protocol Related Absences list, which at times grew to dozens and dozens of players. This season may not be as rampant, but already some are missing training time due to league rules.

Today, Mike Hardman and Kevin Lankinen have been ruled out of Chicago Blackhawks’ practice due to the protocol. Both players were present yesterday. As a reminder, being in the COVID protocol does not necessarily mean a player has tested positive for Coronavirus. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Missing a few days at the beginning of camp is not going to derail the Blackhawks’ season, but this is an important reminder that the NHL is not completely back to normal. For Chicago in particular, Lankinen has been replaced by Collin Delia in the first practice group according to Scott Powers of The Athletic. It is unclear how long each player will be held out for.

Central Notes: Chicago Goalies, Quenneville, Detroit Prospects

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The Blackhawks went into this season with plenty of uncertainty between the pipes with Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia battling for the number one role with Kevin Lankinen serving as a third option.  Of course, by the end, Lankinen had established himself as the starter but there is still plenty of uncertainty regarding the viability of this trio.  Despite that, Phil Thompson and Chris Sosa of the Chicago Tribune feel that the team would be justified sticking with that same goalie group for next season which would allow them to evaluate Lankinen’s potential viability as a long-term starter while determining if one of Subban or Delia is worthy of a full-time backup spot.  All three netminders are slated to become unrestricted free agents in the 2022 offseason.

More from the Central:

  • Still regarding a Chicago goaltender, USA Hockey announced that prospect Drew Commesso has been added to their roster for the World Championships, replacing Anthony Stolarz who was injured in Sunday’s victory over Canada. The 18-year-old was a second-round pick of the Blackhawks (46th overall) back in 2020 and had a .915 SV% in 11 appearances in his freshman year at Boston University.
  • The fact that Seattle has yet to name their inaugural head coach is somewhat of a surprise given the veterans that have been available and the fact that GM Ron Francis wants an experienced voice behind the bench. However, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests the reason for that could be that the Kraken are interested in Panthers bench boss Joel Quenneville, positing that Florida might be willing to let him go for financial reasons.  Considering the season that they’ve had, it’d be tough to imagine that they’d simply let him go to save some money but if there is even a remote possibility of it happening, Francis’ patience in naming a coach would be justified.
  • While many expect Red Wings top prospects Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond to make the jump to the NHL next season, Detroit GM Steve Yzerman told MLive’s Ansar Khan that the youngsters aren’t pencilled into a spot on the roster. While he acknowledged that Seider – recently named the SHL’s defenseman of the year – should be ready to jump into the NHL lineup, Detroit has preferred a slower development approach in recent years which could result in the youngsters getting some AHL time first.

Blackhawks’ Ivan Nalimov Leaving KHL To “Continue His Career In The U.S.”

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March 5: The mystery of where Nalimov will play has been solved. The young goaltender has signed an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs for the remainder of the season. He will not be eligible to play for the Blackhawks but can get into the organization and start playing in North America.

March 1: The KHL regular season is over and, for those teams fortunate enough to qualify, the Gagarin Cup playoffs are set to begin on Tuesday. Dinamo Riga is not among one of those lucky teams. In fact, the Latvian club finished dead last in the league standings by a considerable margin. For several of their impending free agents, Riga has opted not to make them wait until the KHL off-season officially begins. The team announced multiple contract terminations today. Among them was goaltender Ivan Nalimov, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect and a late addition to Dinamo in December who took over the starting role in the latter half of the season. Per Riga’s release, Nalimov was granted an early termination to “continue his career in the USA.”

What exactly this expected move to North America means for the 26-year-old Nalimov remains to be seen. Having never made the jump prior at any point since Chicago drafted him in the sixth round in 2014, Nalimov remains property of the Blackhawks – a label with an indefinite length. However, the team has previously seemed hesitant to sign the Russian netminder, despite good KHL numbers. In fact, at one point Nalimov formally requested a trade to another NHL team. Whether this was prompted by Chicago refusing to offer Nalimov a contract or whether he simply did not see a path to NHL opportunity was never clear and Nalimov later rescinded the request. This off-season, without much experience at the goalie position, it seemed as good a time as any for Chicago to sign Nalimov and it seemed that he realized this as well, waiting to re-sign in the KHL. It was only after the NHL’s return to play plans were formalized and it became clear that Nalimov was not in the Blackhawks’ plans for this season that he signed in Riga. Despite much skepticism, Chicago’s play in net as been stellar this season, led by a breakout campaign from perceived third-string Kevin Lankinen. With Lankinen, Malcolm Subban, and Collin Delia all signed through next season, the logjam in net has seemingly returned to Chicago. Is there no room for Nalimov? Or has the emergence of Lankinen opened the club’s eyes to take a chance on their European netminders?

The phrasing of Riga’s press release, as translated from Latvian, seems to indicate that there is a specific plan in place for Nalimov, one that prompted the early termination of his contract. It could be that with the window opening today to sign contracts for the 2021-22 season that the Blackhawks have an agreement to sign Nalimov to a contract beginning next year. In the meantime, he could sign an AHL contract for the remainder of this season. There is also a chance that Chicago, hopeful for a playoff berth this season, will add Nalimov on an NHL deal immediately as a depth option. Beyond their NHL trio, the club’s only other goaltender under contract, Matt Tomkins, has struggled in his young pro career and has had a woeful start to this season in the AHL. In either case, it would mean Nalimov has come to terms with the Blackhawks’ depth chart and there is no further animosity between he and the team. If this is not the case, it could be that Chicago has promised to trade Nalimov before next season and at this point he is ready to play wherever in the league (or minors) he might end up.

Assuming Nalimov is indeed ready to begin the next stage of his career in North America, there is certainly upside for whichever team signs him. That is, if you overlook this season. Playing for a poor Riga team, especially as a late addition, Nalimov struggled this year with an .877 save percentage and 3.58 GAA. However, this is a steep outlier from the rest of his KHL career. Nalimov had maintained a high level of play over his previous six seasons, playing for a number of different teams. While his frequent movement in recent years has prevented him from taking on a workhorse role, he has played just as well with limited appearances for a team as he has as their undisputed starter. KHL goaltenders have found success transitioning to the NHL in recent years and Nalimov could be the next in line.

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