The biggest question mark hanging over the Vancouver Canucks heading into the 2024-25 season is the status of Thatcher Demko.
The Canucks’ All-Star goaltender finished second in Vezina voting last season. He’s a game-changer for the Canucks, capable of putting the team on his back and stealing games, and he’s essential to their hopes of winning the Stanley Cup.
But Demko’s playoffs this past season came to an abrupt halt after he suffered a knee injury in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Nashville Predators.
That knee injury — since revealed to be an injury to the popliteus muscle — proved stranger and more difficult to assess than anyone anticipated. In researching the injury, Demko and his medical team couldn’t find any other hockey players who had dealt with it before, making it difficult to not only find the right way to treat the injury but also to know how long it would take to recover.
"I don't think Demko's back anytime soon"
While it initially seemed like there was a chance Demko could be ready for the start of the regular season, Demko didn’t want to give a potential target date for his return when he spoke to the media ahead of training camp, saying, “I’m not going to sit here and give you a timeline because it might create some problems for me.”
Instead of aiming for a specific date, Demko is focused on making sure he’s fully healthy before he returns, however long that takes. According to reports on Monday, that might be longer than first thought.
“I heard last week that it’s gearing up that Demko’s going to probably not come back until November,” said Rick Dhaliwal on Monday’s Donnie and Dhali show. “I don’t think Demko’s back anytime soon.”
That jibes with a report from TSN’s Darren Dreger on the Sekeres & Price podcast.
“The outside timeline — and let’s not staple this down entirely — is 3-4 weeks,” said Dreger, saying that timeline ought to be a cause for optimism. “If it’s a bit shy of three weeks or if it drifts into that fourth week, I don’t think there should be panic… If they can get him into the mix early in the regular season — a month in, worst case scenario, then I think that puts Vancouver into a really good position going forward.”
A return in three weeks would come at the end of October; four weeks would be the first week of November. With that in mind, Canucks fans could expect Demko to miss 8-11 games to start the season.
"We don't feel we need to rush Thatcher"
General manager Patrik Allvin refused to give any sort of timeline when he spoke to the media Monday afternoon.
“Nothing has really changed in terms of his timeline,” said Allvin. “I mean, Thatcher is very committed, he has been skating almost every day on his own or with the injured guys and is doing his rehab. I think at this point, the luxury of having [Arturs] Silovs and [Kevin] Lankinen, we don’t feel we need to rush Thatcher and I think that’s important for his long-term health. And also, being around the guys here, he seems to be very upbeat and in good spirits. He’s coming along really well.”
The theme of having no timeline attached to Demko’s return is to ensure that Demkos takes all the time he needs to get right. The focus is on Demko’s long-term health, both for his own good and for the good of the team.
In the meantime, the Canucks have two goaltenders they believe in.
Silovs took over the Canucks’ net from Demko and Casey DeSmith during the 2024 playoffs and helped take the team to Game 7 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. The team knows he can start a run of games but they also added a veteran backup in Lankinen, who head coach Rick Tocchet has said will get into games early in the season and battle for starts.
“I’m very confident with Silovs and Lankinen,” said Allvin. “Kevin has come in here with a great attitude and he’s an experienced goalie. His work ethic is pushing Silovs and I think Silovs has responded really well…I’m very comfortable with those guys carrying the load here.”
A timeline for Demko’s return might not be forthcoming until Demko is no longer skating on his own.
“He’s working so hard, he’s so committed and determined to come back,” said Allvin. “He’s definitely getting closer but I think we’ll know more once he joins the team in full practice.”
