Markstrom had one of the best years of his career in a contract year, earning a six-year deal in Calgary. He went 23-16-4 with a 2.75 GAA and .918 SV% in 43 games last year and is expected to be a workhorse for the Flames this season. In his debut, he'll face a Jets team that was 17th in GoalsFor (3.00) and 15th in PP% (20.5) in 2020.
Markstrom is coming off of the best year of his career, tying for 11th in the NHL in wins (23), 13th in SV% (.918) and tied for 25th in GAA (2.75). Now he goes from a team that gave up the third most scoring chances to a team that ranked in the middle of the pack, so his GAA and SV% should improve in 2021. The Flames have made a huge commitment to him but they have not had a goalie with a SV% above .920 since Miikka Kiprusoff in 2011-12.
Markstrom's original timetable was 3-to-4 weeks and that could still be the case. Vancouver will likely release another update after he is re-evaluated in two weeks. Thatcher Demko will be the Canucks' starter until further notice, suggesting he could start the next eight-to-nine games in a row (with two back-to-backs).
Markstrom was hurt in the Boston game on Saturday and underwent an MRI on Monday morning. He'll return to Vancouver to be re-evaluated and the Canucks will likely return a more detailed timetable after that. With Markstrom out, Thatcher Demko will serve as the Canucks' No.1 netminder and they made a trade for Louis Domingue today to give them a No.2 netminder.
