As avid Vancouver Canucks fans, we at Goalie Guru have painfully watched our city’s heroes struggle to find their stride this year. Demko was injured after just 10 games, Kevin Lankinen’s consistency issues have persisted, and the team cannot find the back of the net. As a result, this year’s Nucks are last place in the league after 30 games. Over the past few weeks, with Demko injured, the team recalled Jiri Patera. The Czech had a great string of games for Vegas two years ago and had 8 games of NHL experience under his belt. The Canucks started Patera on the second half of a back-to-back on the road against Florida (set up to fail?), and he made some fantastic saves despite surrendering 7 goals in a 7-5 loss. Patera was sent down somewhat subsequently, and Vancouver brought up Nikita Tolopilo for his third stint in the NHL with the team. The 6’6 Belarusian went undrafted and was signed out of Sweden’s second best pro league in 2023 (HockeyAllsvenskan).
In four games with the Canucks this season, Tolopilo has a .911% and two wins. His two wins came against quite tough opponents, and he has been forced to make some big saves in all of his starts. His game against Anaheim was among our favourites of the year; the Ducks offence was unstoppable, and Tolopilo didn’t stutter in facing 41 shots, kicking 37 saves.
Tolopilo’s development has been slow. His league play was long overlooked after he struggled in international play, despite his lower level IIHF competing Belarus team never competing at the top tournament, which gets much spotlight. After a decent year in 2020-21 in Belarus, Nikita took his big, blocking style of play over to Sweden. His second season in the Allsvenskan brought attention from many North American teams, as he posted a .924% in 45 games for Sodertalje SK.
The Canucks organization signed Tolopilo for the 2023/24 season. As an AHL rookie, Nikita posted a .904% and won 20 of his 35 games, surprising many; the AHL is known as a difficult league for goalies due to the nature of broken plays (turnovers), but the tall goaltender adapted quickly.
A consistent second season with Abbotsford (.902% in 36 games and 20 wins) gave Tolopilo the opportunity to start two games at the end of the season for the Canucks, winning one of the two.
Now, after a solid start to the season, and the birth of he and his wife’s first child, Tolopilo has been re-assigned to the Abbotsford Canucks. We believe his drive to be a consistent goalie wherever he goes, as proven by his track record, will see him as a much leaned on third goaltender for a Canucks team that might be fighting for the first overall pick. At the very least, he should lead the AHL Canucks into the Calder Cup playoffs come April to defend their 25′ championship. Tolopilo will serve as a more than capable replacement for Pittsburgh’s new starting goaltender Arturs Silovs.
One response to “Nikita Tolopilo is NHL Ready”
Demko and Lankinen who cares about anyone else?