The Vancouver Canucks placed goaltender Nikita Tolopilo on waivers Sunday, two days before the regular season opens.
Every other NHL club now gets a crack at him. If nobody bites by Monday, he reports to the AHL's Abbotsford Canucks.
The timing tells you everything. Vancouver claimed 24-year-old goaltender Leevi Meriläinen off waivers Friday, and that claim started the clock on Tolopilo's spot with the big club.
He was the only player the Canucks exposed on a hectic Sunday across the league, with all 32 rosters due at 2 PM PT on Monday.
Saturday night told the same story. Kevin Lankinen went the distance in a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken, while Tolopilo dressed as the backup and never left the bench.
Lankinen turned aside 25 of 28 shots in that one. Hardly a clinic, but enough to close a preseason in which Vancouver went 1-3-0.
Then there's Thatcher Demko, whose $8,500,000 cap hit sits among the four richest goaltender deals in the league. That's a lot of money parked above you on the depth chart.
Abbotsford awaits if nobody bites by Monday
Tolopilo, 26, arrived as an overseas free agent after a standout run in Sweden's Allsvenskan. Since then, he's bounced between Abbotsford and Vancouver.
Last season was his real audition. Demko went down with multiple injuries, the club's previous depth option had already been traded away, and Tolopilo was handed the crease.
The results never forced management's hand. And a two-start preseason, both losses, did nothing to change the conversation.
Vancouver's general manager made it clear this week that Meriläinen wasn't an impulse buy. "He was a guy that we had targeted; if he was available, we were going to take a serious look at it," he said.
Read that again. Months of planning, a name circled on the board, and Tolopilo on the wrong side of the ledger the whole time.
Vancouver got this one right. It's also a cold way to treat a goalie who stood in when the season was falling apart around him.
He's the understudy who covered for the lead all winter, then found his name missing from the program the week of opening night.
So, will someone claim him? A 26-year-old with NHL games on his résumé is exactly the kind of depth insurance teams hunt for on cutdown day.
If he clears, Abbotsford gets a seasoned pro in its crease. If he doesn't, Vancouver's margin for error shrinks the moment the next injury hits.
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The Canucks open in Edmonton on Tuesday, then host the Oilers again Thursday. Tolopilo's phone could ring before either puck drop, and it might not be Vancouver calling.
Should the Canucks have kept Nikita Tolopilo over Leevi Meriläinen?
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