Goaltender Leevi Merilainen getting probability to showcase abilities with Canucks

NEW YORK – Neighbours and low season coaching companions in Oulu, Finland, Aatu Raty stated he’s unsure he scored even one objective this summer season on Leevi Merilainen.

“Live in the same area, practise together, train at the same gym, do everything,” Raty stated Sunday. “I feel like I didn’t score on him the whole summer. I think he was just really focused on his work and getting better every day. He just worked his ass off. I mean, he made some saves.”

With the worst defensive file within the National Hockey League, and floundering amid a dropping streak that has seen them outscored 17-5 within the first half of their six-game jap street journey, Vancouver’s goaltending has grow to be an early-season flashpoint.

Stalked all summer season by the Canucks and purchased on waivers from the Ottawa Senators 4 days earlier than the common season, Merilainen has performed exceptionally effectively to this point. Veteran Kevin Lankinen, uh, has not.

After the 31-year-old allowed six targets on 25 pictures in Vancouver’s 6-2 loss Sunday towards the New York Rangers, Lankinen’s save fee of .786 ranks 36^th amongst 37 NHL goalies who’ve appeared in a minimum of three video games to this point. Merilainen is eighth at .929.

These percentages are from minuscule pattern sizes and topic to dramatic up- or downticks this early within the season.

But with a sport Tuesday towards the New York Islanders, the Canucks seem to have a a lot better probability proper now to be aggressive with Merilainen, who has began solely two of Vancouver’s seven video games however was additionally sharp in a pair of prolonged aid appearances for the struggling Lankinen.

The crew didn’t practise Monday.

As we’ve discovered, Canucks coach Manny Malhotra will give us his bank card quantity and Instagram password earlier than tipping off reporters about his beginning goalie – or anything concerning his lineup.

But Malhotra has been impressed with how effectively the 22-year-old Merilainen has transitioned to the Canucks.

“I like the confidence that he shows as a young guy,” Malhotra advised Sportsnet on Sunday. “He’s very much a goalie in terms of personality. Like, he doesn’t give you much. He’s an introverted guy (but) never-a-bad-day kind of guy. He just kind of goes about his business. Doesn’t get too excited about things, doesn’t get down about things. But in his game, I’ve seen just a lot of really poised play, as well as some massive saves at key times.”

Apart from any short-term beneficial properties for the Canucks by taking part in Merilainen, it’s essential to keep in mind that the 2020 third-round choose can be an essential improvement venture for the rebuilding crew.

After Ryan Johnson grew to become normal supervisor final May, the Canucks set Merilainen as an acquisition goal and had been elated that the Senators, who desperately performed their finest goalie prospect into the bottom with 11 straight NHL begins final winter amid a crease disaster, uncovered him on waivers after signing Samuel Ersson in July to again up Linus Ullmark.

“You want to see guys that are hungry and grateful for opportunities, and he embodies that,” Malhotra stated of Merilainen. “He came in with a really open mind, no expectations on his part in terms of how many games he would play or when he would start. But when he’s been given the start, he’s super grateful for it. He just goes in and does his thing.”

With No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko nonetheless out indefinitely as he recovers from main surgical procedure on his hips, what the Canucks can supply Merilainen is a managed alternative and endurance.

“That helps for sure,” the athletic, six-foot-three goalie stated. “Like, just knowing you can be here, play games and compete, it’s an opportunity to show myself. Yeah, it’s nicer knowing that you’re not going up and down (to the minors) all the time.”

Merilainen made the Senators initially of final season however was despatched to the American Hockey League twice within the opening month to get video games. As Ottawa’s backup, he performed seven instances in seven weeks earlier than Christmas however instantly grew to become the starter when Ullmark took a mental-health go away of absence.

Only twice in his 11 straight begins did Merilainen cease 90 per cent of the pictures he confronted – he has achieved it in all 4 appearances for the Canucks – and on Jan. 20, after the Senators had signed James Reimer in mid-season, the Finn was returned to the AHL for good.

All of this would possibly assist clarify how Merilainen posted an .860 save fee in 20 NHL video games final season after impressively creating his sport over the earlier 4 years.

“There was, like, a lot of uncertainty for sure,” the goalie stated. “First of all, not knowing if you will make the team. And then when you think you’ve made it, you go up and down (to the minors) a couple of times. You don’t play a lot (and) I’ve always played a lot. Even if I wasn’t on the best team, I’ve always played a lot. And then going from not playing much at all, going up and down, and then all of a sudden playing in the NHL. . . 11 games in a row, and they didn’t go as well as I wanted to. So, yeah, it was a tough year. But you’ve got to learn from those. Everybody’s going to have better years and worse years. You’ve just got to get through them and learn from them.”

A boyhood pal of Merilainen since they met one another at “sports school” in Grade 7, Raty stated the goalie was a late-bloomer.

“He just stuck with it,” the Canuck centre stated. “He by no means give up. I’m positive it was a psychological battle, you understand, not being the very best goalie in your metropolis and never being within the nationwide crew and stuff like that. But he by no means give up, and clearly labored actually exhausting to get that good. That’s one factor I keep in mind: he all the time caught with it, all the time stored working and acquired rewarded.

“Leevi, like, he got really good at a later age. . . like 16, 17, 18 years old. He just got really good kind of all of a sudden.”

“He’s right,” Merilainen stated. “Like pretty much all my life, I’ve been, what do you call it. . . like, always trying to work my way up, always trying to make the team. Sometimes I’ve had to go to a lower level, even in Finland, to get some games in. So, yeah, that’s true. But I’m happy the way it’s gone, and I wouldn’t change anything. It’s been a learning experience to just never give up and keep going no matter what. And enjoy what you’re doing (because) you never know.”