Meet the Newest Canucks: Aleksei Medvedev
The Vancouver Canucks are taking the summer to reform their team and build up their core as new head coach Adam Foote continues to make moves. With six new prospects being picked up for the team last month during the 2025 NHL Draft, the Canucks are looking at adding some younger players to the roster. After a season full of struggles for Vancouver with several injuries, drama on and off the ice, and contract issues for veteran players, adding some new talent to the lineup could really help out the struggling team. Let’s take a look at the 47th overall pick in the draft, and one of the newest members of the Vancouver Canucks franchise, Aleksei Medvedev.
At just 17 years old, Medvedev is a powerful skater and talented goalie with impressive statistics to back him up. The six-foot-three, 181-pound goalie is from Russia and has been playing hockey in the OHL for the London Knights for the last two seasons. With a total of 34 games played in the OHL, Medvedev had a save percentage average of .912 with 1034 shots against him. Though his experience may seem limited, his performance on the ice has caught the eye of several people, and landed him a spot in the Vancouver Canucks family.
Though the Canucks have already extended the contract of Thatcher Demko earlier in the summer, and Kevin Lankinen is still on the roster, adding more goaltending talent to the team could be a big advantage for the Canucks. On July 10th, the Canucks signed Medvedev to a $2.7 million, three-year entry-level contract. Though it is unlikely that we will see the Russian goaltender hit the ice to start a game during the upcoming 2025-2026 season, it’s highly likely that we see him join the Abbotsford Canucks on the ice during their season. Keep an eye on him as he makes a path for himself in the world of professional hockey. At his young age, he has a long career ahead of him. Adding younger players like him to the team will lower the age of the team, keeping the core at a younger age, and hopefully avoid many injuries like those that impacted the lineup during several key games of the 2024-2025 season.
