Golden opportunity for the Canucks' prospect Ty Young

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Cooper Godin
October 3, 2024 (11:54)

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Vancouver Canucks goaltending prospect Ty Young may have a golden opportunity with the organization after Boston's waiver claim of Jiri Patera.

On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks lost a goaltending option in their system as the Boston Bruins claimed Jiri Patera off waivers. Patera signed a two-year, two-way contract with Vancouver back on July 1st with a cap hit of $775,000, the league's minimum this season.

With Jiri Patera now with the Bruins organization and Thatcher Demko still on the sidelines with an injury, which he's recovering from, the Canucks have Arturs Silovs and Kevin Lankinen as their tandem for the start of the 2024-25 season.

The member of Vancouver's organization who benefits from the Jiri Patera waiver claim is Ty Young, the Canucks' fifth-round pick back in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Ty Young was likely heading down to the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings for the start of the year, but now with Patera gone, there's a very good chance he'll be on Abbotsford's roster right out of the gate, forming a tandem with Belarusian netminder Nikita Tolopilo.

There was also a chance that Ty Young could've returned to the Western Hockey League's Prince George Cougars for his overage season, but at least to start the year, he'll be in the professional ranks. Depending on how things go on the injury front regarding Demko and how Young is performing, there's still an opportunity he could head back to the WHL later in the season, like we saw with Josh Bloom last season who played in the AHL and ECHL before going to the OHL's Saginaw Spirit in January.

Young, a native of Coaldale, Alberta, had a strong 2023-24 campaign with Prince George. During the regular season, he split the starts with Joshua Ravensbergen, before the latter took over the starting reigns in the playoffs. In 37 games with the Cougars, Young had a record of 23-11-2 with a 2.79 goals against average, a .903 save percentage and one shutout.

It's going to be interesting to see how Ty Young does at the professional level in Abbotsford right out of the gate. If the Canucks feel like he's ready for this level, then there's no doubt his jump to professional hockey will be permanent and his junior career will officially come to a close.