Jacob Markstrom

Year after year it seems that the Vancouver Canucks have goaltending questions that always leads to controversy.  Luongo and Schneider, Luongo and Lack, Miller and Lack, and now Miller and Markstrom.  But the question this year isn't if Markstrom is going to steal away the starting job from Miller, but if he is ready to make the jump to a full time player in the NHL.

Markstrom spent 4 seasons in Florida before he was traded to the Canucks in the Roberto Luongo trade in the 2013-14 season.  While he was with the Panthers he played in 43 games and started 38 of those.
His numbers over the 4 seasons in Florida were not the best, posting a 11-25-5 record with a .898 SV% and a 3.20 GAA.  His best season (numbers wise) came in 2011-12 when he played in 7 games, starting in 6 of those, and he achieved a decent .923 SV% and a 2.66 GAA.  The next season he started in 23 games for the Panthers where he had a record of 8-14-1 and a SV% of .901 and a GAA of 3.22. 
Granted the Panthers were not the best team in the NHL those seasons.  They were a team trying to make the cap floor and slowly rebuild back to where they could be competitive in the post lock out NHL.
Markstrom seemed to struggle in the NHL at his young age and was really just thrown into the fire with the Panthers mostly due to injuries.

Move forward now to the 2013-14 season after Markstrom was traded to the Canucks.  Markstrom saw very little time in the NHL (4 games) after the trade and was re-assigned to the AHL affiliate Utica Comets where it seems Jacob flourishes.

In all of his time in the AHL, Jacob Markstrom has posted some seriously good numbers and even helped lead the Utica Comets to the AHL Calder Cup finals in the 2014-15 season.
Over 5 seasons in the AHL, Markstrom has played in 163 games with a record of 83-65-9 and has a very respectable 2.48 GAA and a .921 SV%. 
His best season was last season where he played in 32 games for Utica and went 22-7-2.  He posted a 1.88 GAA and a .934 SV% in the regular season, and went on to start in 23 games for the Comets in the play offs where the Comets ended up losing to the Manchester Monarchs in the finals.

So when people look at Jacob Markstrom and say he isn't any good, look again.
He is only 25 years old now and has been up and down getting little bits of  NHL experience for the last 5 seasons.  Although his time so far in the NHL hasn't been stellar, his numbers in the AHL are great, and he has tons of potential.
The biggest question is weather or not he can convert that AHL confidence into NHL confidence.  Being a full time back up to Ryan Miller this season should help out a great deal.  Learning the game at the highest level with an elite, although slightly fading, goaltender in front of him will help Jacob's game.  He will learn skills not only Miller, but goaltending coach Roland Melanson should also help elevate the 25 year old's game to the NHL platform.
Markstrom recently signed a 2 year, one way contract worth $3.1 million, (an AAV of $1,550,000) which shows the confidence that the Canucks management team has in the young goalie. 
Trevor Linden has recently compared Markstrom to Crawford (Chicago) and Bishop (Tampa Bay) not for their numbers or contracts, but their age and when they managed to break into the NHL.  Goaltenders sometimes take longer to develop and make the transition from AHL to NHL and it seems that Markstrom is no different.  Once he gets his routine down and his comfort level up, Markstrom could once again force a difficult decision upon the Canucks management. 
I wouldn't expect to see him get a bunch of starts this season, but he will see his fair share.  And if Miller should go down due to injury, Markstrom could get his time to shine, much like Eddie Lack did.  Although I feel that trading away Eddie Lack was a bad move, I look forward to seeing how Markstrom progresses and develops at the NHL level.  I hope he proves all the doubters wrong.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share this post or comment on it with your thoughts.

Until next time.