Vancouver Canucks Top 5 Goalie Prospects

The Vancouver Canucks suffered for many years with a reputation of having a goalie graveyard. Sure, we had Kirk McLean in 1994, but after that we had years of Garth Snow and Dan Cloutier, among other less than memorable choices.

This all began to turn around in 2006, however, with the arrival of Roberto Luongo. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny his arrival was met with celebration in Vancouver.

Now, the Canucks are fortunate enough to have depth in the net that goes well beyond their starter.

So read ahead for an introduction to Vancouver’s top five net minders with potential.

5. Jonathan Iilahti

The 19-year-old Finland native Jonathan Iilahti was the Canucks sixth-round pick in 2010.

Vancouver hockey fans won’t have to wait long to see this young prospect in action. He’s slated to suit up as a Giant next season where, following in the footsteps of Kevin Connauton and Mario Bliznak, he can improve his game where Canuck coaches can keep an eye on him

"Jonathan's size and composure complement his playing style as a butterfly goaltender,” Canucks scout Lars Lindgren told Steve Ewen of the Province. “He is patient with the puck, calm in the net and displays a level of maturity well beyond his age.

Last season Iilahti had a .901 save percentage and a 2.76 GAA with the Espo Blues back in Finland.

4. David Honzik

Hailing from the Czech Republic, David Hozik was selected in the third round; he was the fourth goalie drafted in the 2011 draft.

He played in 36 games (17-12-1)  in his rookie year with the Victoriaville Tigers as well as nine playoff games. He improved his regular season .884 save percentage to a .919 save percentage in the playoffs, the second best in the league, before his team lost to the eventual Memorial Cup-winning Sea Dogs.

Despite having a rough start to the season, he soon impressed his coach.

"The first half, he had lots of ups and downs like any 17-year-old goalie," head coach Yanick Jean told Sportsnet. "You would never know what you're going to get before a game. Second half, he had streaks that you would say, 'Oh, my god. He won five or six in a row.'"

"From the end of February to the end of the playoffs, he was just outstanding. The last six or eight games he played for us during the year, he was phenomenal."

Honzik has been compared to Pekka Rinne, or as I referred to him as he backstopped the Predators against the Canucks in Round 2, the crazy spider monkey who stopped so many pucks it wasn't even fair.

And Vancouver can never have too many crazy spider monkeys on hand.

3. Joe Cannata

The 21-year-old, Joe Cannata, was drafted in the sixth round of the 2009 draft, and hails from Wakefield, Massachusetts. He may be American, but with a name that close to Canada you have to think he has hockey in his blood, or at least ice.

"He has ice water in his veins," Merrimack College head coach Mark Dennehy told the Eagle Tribune. "He's exactly what we thought he was when we were recruiting him. Nothing fazes him. There are nights where he's in a groove and I just know that no one is going to beat him...He only has to make one save, the one that saves the game, and he's done that more often than not this season."

Prior to 2010 the Warriors had gone 20 years without a winning season, but due in large part to his stellar play they finished the 2010-11 season 25-10, ranked fourth in the East.

Cannata’s .911 save percentage helped earn him a Hobey Baker nomination, awarded to the best college hockey player in the country, as well as a nod for the Walter Brown Award, awarded to the best player in New England.

Cannata also spent a year with the USA U-18 team, where he helped lead his team to a gold medal in the Five Nations tournament.

Not too many NHL starters find themselves drafted in the sixth round, but with another year of college left to continue to improve, Joe Cannata’s future is looking bright.

2. Eddie Lack

The Canucks signed 23-year-old Eddie Lack last summer, picturing him as the backup for Tyler Weiman on the Manitoba Moose, but as we would soon see, Lack was no backup.

Lack played in 53 games his first season with the Moose, recording a .926 save percentage and a 2.26 GAA. In the playoffs, he stepped it up even further, allowing only 25 goals in 12 games, stopping the puck 344 times.

This includes Game 6 of the second round, which saw Manitoba eliminated by the Hamilton Bulldogs. Despite the loss, Lack received the first star in the game.

Why?

Because after Hamilton tied it up in the third, the teams battled late into the night until Hamilton finally scored in the third overtime, but only after Lack stopped an incredible 57 shots. For those of you not so great at math, that means that if he stopped a puck every 30 seconds there would still be 7 shots left to deal with.

Also, did I mention that he’s 6’4"? And looks every inch of it. With legs as long as his, he could easily lose more than a few pucks through the five-hole. But the Swedish native manages to turn his height into an advantage which makes himself absolutely HUGE in the net.

The rookie also received a record four team awards after the season; MVP, Rookie of the Year, the Three-Stars award and Most Popular Player. This is in addition to being named to the AHL’s All-Rookie team.

He’ll have some nice hardware to bring back to Sweden this summer.

With Roberto Luongo not going anywhere and my next pick still on contract for another season, it will probably be another year before Vancouver fans can see Lack in a Canucks uniform. But if he pulls off another season as stellar as his first, then I, for one, can’t wait

1 . Cory Schneider

I know, you can’t exactly call a Jennings Trophy winner a prospect, but this is my list and I love him. He’s only played one full season in the NHL, so let’s just go for it.

To start with, he holds pretty much every Manitoba Moose goalie record, including single season wins (35), GGA (2,04) and save percentage (.928).

He also took home the AHL award for Goaltender of the Year and goaltender of the team with the fewest goals against in 2009.

Last season, he started 20 games, helping the Canucks win 16 of them, and finishing the season with a cool .929 save percentage.

Plus, he has some decent playoff experience under his belt after being brought in to replace Luongo in five games, including the Stanley Cup Final and a Game 6 start in Chicago.

If he wasn’t backing up Roberto Luongo and his million year contract, he would be a solid franchise goalie. Unfortunately, he’s simply too good to play backup much longer.

Expect next season to be Schneider’s last in Vancouver. Enjoy it while you can Canucks fans, because in a few years you’ll be cursing him as he stops yet another Kesler slap shot.