Former Blackhawk to Take Over Starting Goalie For Finland in Four Nations Face-Off

Well, Kevin Lankinen, former Blackhawk goalie, may earn the starting position at the Four Nations Face-Off for Team Finland.

Lankinen went undrafted and started his career off with the Blackhawks in the 2020-21 season. Lankinen played a good rookie season, having a 3.01 GAA and a .909 SV% and went 17-14 on the year.

Lankien would then play his second year on the Hawks and face a major drop off in performance, going up to a 3.50 GAA and down to a .891 SV%.

After a couple shaky seasons the Blackhawks would let him go and Kevin would sign with the Nashville Predators on a two-year deal to be the backup to Juuse Saros in the 2022 off-season.

In the 2022-23 season, had a stellar showing, as through 17 games, he went 9-8-1 and had a 2.76 GAA and a .916 SV%, being the perfect backup to Saros.

In the 2023-24 season, he continued down that path and improved his record to 11-6 record and had a 2.82 GAA and a .908 SV%.

After the two solid seasons in Nashville, Lankinen decided to bet on himself. He saw the goaltending mess the Vancouver Canucks had with injuries and chose to go there, and it paid off.

Kevin currently has a 19-8-7 record in Vancouver and has a 2.53 GAA and a .905 SV%, proving why it was a good decision to bet on himself and why it was a good decision for the Canucks to sign him.

Lankinen went from starting off his career as an undrafted free agent, being picked up by the Blackhawks, to signing with the Predators, and now playing with the Canucks, to representing his home country, Finland.

Credit: The Hockey News