Quinn’s Questions: How Confident Are You in Spencer Martin?

Quinn’s Questions is a feature where you the fans tell us your thoughts, through your vote and hopefully in the comments, as well. It’s named after Quinn Hughes, Pat Quinn, or both, depending on your age and era.

Results of previous Quinn’s Questions: Who should be the Canucks’ 13th forward?

Phillip Di Giuseppe - 34%

Dakota Joshua - 32%

Jason Dickinson - 26%

Other - 7%

Listen, I’m not saying last week’s poll got Dickinson traded, but also not not saying that.

In some ways, goaltending is the least interesting part of the 2022-23 Canucks. Thatcher Demko is a slam dunk starting net minder, and it’s widely thought that he will be one of the busiest. He’s on a good contract (thank you, Jim, for real), he’s young, there’s really nothing to worry about. If there’s any drama between the pipes, its behind Demko with Spencer Martin.

Martin was a pleasant surprise of sorts last year. Out of nowhere, Martin put up a 0.950 save percentage in six games last season, when he was forced into action due to injuries. With Jaroslav Halak now gone, Martin has elevated into the backup role, and he could be an important part of the Canucks’ success. Even if he plays in the ballpark of 15 games, those contests could be the difference between making or missing the playoffs for a team that looks like it will be on the bubble.

So it begs the question, just how confident are you, as a Canucks fan, in Martin?

There are reasonable cases to be made on a few fronts. Certainly, his short stint last season shows the ceiling could be high. He could very well be a legitimately effective net minder, even if he doesn’t maintain a 95% level. That level of ability is impressive, and if you had a time machine, went in to the future, came back and told me that Martin had a better save percentage than Demko, hey, I wouldn’t think it’s the most outlandish thing in the world. Even a notch down, where he’s roughly an average NHL backup — that’s great! At least we’re not overpaying for brandname veterans anymore (see: Halak, Jaro; Holtby, Braden).

However, it’s of course possible that he’s shaky, or outright bad. I mean, the organization signed Collin Delia for a reason — they wanted some sort of safety net. Let’s say you get in the same time machine, and make the trip to tell me that Martin was average or terrible and was replaced by Delia or even Michael DiPietro again — I would not call you crazy. This is. guy with fewer than ten games of NHL experience, so it’s far from a lock that he’ll be NHL caliber all year.

I want to know where you’re all at. Are we bullish or bearish on Martin? I’m reasonably confident, myself. I think he’ll be solid, though maybe not spectacular, and certainly I like the idea that we’re now paying normal prices for a backup goalie. Let us know your thoughts, as every week, in the comments and the poll!