Canucks notebook: Demko key to surviving injury crisis

VANCOUVER — No matter how hollow the Vancouver Canucks†lineup becomes due to injuries, Thatcher Demko looks capable of keeping the team competitive if he stays healthy and sharp. And for the first time in two years, the goalie feels he is both.

“I didn’t play one single good game last year,†Demko told Sportsnet last week. “I would say I’m back to kind of where I was two years ago.â€

Two seasons ago, before Demko tore the popliteus muscle in his knee in the first game of the 2024 playoffs, the American won 35 of 51 starts, five by shutout, while posting a career-best save rate of .918. Demko finished second in Vezina Trophy balloting and was named to the National Hockey Leagueâ€s Second All-Star Team.

Through seven games this season, Demkoâ€s save percentage is .926. The analytics site Natural Stat Trick has him leading the NHL with 7.2 goals saved above average at five-on-five, and MoneyPuck ranks him first with 9.5 goals saved above expected.

After the Canucks†2-0 home loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday, when leading scorer Conor Garland became the eighth player out with injury in the first 11 games, Demko is 4-3-0 in his seven starts. In his three losses, Vancouver has scored twice.

After a season undermined by his own injuries, Demko is playing at a dizzying level. And as the team limps out on the road for another three-game trip that starts Thursday against the St. Louis Blues, the 29-year-old goalie from San Diego gives the Canucks their best hope of surviving the current injury crisis.

After the confounding popliteus injury and two others limited Demko to just 23 starts last season, he has returned to elite form sooner than anyone should have expected.

“I mean, that’s a tricky question, I guess,†he said. “With that (level of performance), kind of comes my expectation of what to expect on a nightly basis. Obviously, I’ve had to grow as a performer over the last two years, just given my circumstance. Iâ€m just kind of continuing to learn how to be able to get on the ice and do what I can do every night.â€

• 
• 32 Thoughts: The Podcast

  Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.

  Latest episode

Undermined by injuries for much of his career, Demko said before training camp that he had changed his off-season training to make it more preventive. While he was out last season, the Canucks re-signed Kevin Lankinen to a five-year, US$22.5-million contract to lessen Demkoâ€s workload and provide insurance against any future injuries to their starter.

Lankinen, however, has struggled to find his A-game through four starts this month. And although none of his three losses can be pinned on the goalie, Lankinen would concede that an .873 save percentage isnâ€t good enough.

Demko is expected to get at least two starts on this road trip, but with off-days between Saturdayâ€s game in Minnesota and Mondayâ€s in Nashville, itâ€s possible he could play all three. The Canucks plan to practise in St. Paul on Friday, which would be their first practice in nine days.

The Canucks have lost four of five games and their special teams, especially with personnel changes forced by injuries, need work.

“We looked at it hard, obviously, when the schedule came out, and we reviewed it more than once,†coach Adam Foote said of the sparse practice schedule. “There’s going to be pockets where this is going to happen. Would we like this to happen in a perfect world in six weeks? Yeah, but it’s right out of the gate, and some teams are dealing with that right now as well. Youâ€re aware of it when we have an Olympic year, so you just move forward and you don’t try to think about it and just prepare.â€

Burning for Olympic torch

One subplot worth following with Demko is how quickly he is playing his way back into Olympic consideration after USA Hockey largely forgot about him after his injury 18 months ago.Â

Two years ago, Demko would have been almost an automatic choice for one of Team USAâ€s three goaltending spots. But after last season, he wasnâ€t invited to his countryâ€s Olympic orientation camp in August. The four goalies who attended were Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Joey Daccord and Jeremy Swayman.

“I think that’s one of those things that is so far out of my control,†Demko said of the Olympics. “I mean, yeah, it’s a pretty thing — kind of like that shiny object out in the distance. But I’m focused on winning, I’m focused on playing at the level I can play at. I think the chips will fall where they fall. I can put my head on the pillow and sleep at night knowing that I’ve been the hardest-working guy to get kind of back to where I am. Getting wins for this group is my priority. That’s where my head’s at.â€

The Canucks used Wednesday as a travel day. But as of post-game Tuesday, none of their injured players was expected to accompany the team to St. Louis. There is hope, however, that one or two may rejoin the team before the end of the trip.

Centre Teddy Blueger and star defenceman Quinn Hughes appear to be the closest to returning.

The teamâ€s only transactions on Wednesday were the recall of minor-league winger MacKenzie MacEachern to provide some size and physicality at the bottom of the lineup, while centre Nils Aman went the other way to the American League. The last of MacEachernâ€s 123 NHL games were played for the Blues two seasons ago.

While there is a lot of conjecture about the Canucks†interest in Boston Bruins centre Pavel Zacha, the acquisition costs probably arenâ€t getting any less prohibitive as injuries (and losses) accumulate in Vancouver. While we canâ€t say what specifics have been discussed, other teams have been consistent in asking Canucks GM Patrik Allvin for one of the organizationâ€s top defence prospects, Tom Willander or Elias Pettersson (Junior).

Given those players†age and upside, as well as uncertainty about what the Canucks†defence may look like if Hughes doesnâ€t re-sign after this season, it is understandable that Allvin has been unwilling to pay that kind of ransom for a middle-six centre. Which is partly why the team bought an inexpensive lottery ticket on Lukas Reichel, the speedy 23-year-old who cost them only a fourth-round pick to acquire from the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

With Blueger close to returning, the Canucks†four centres, for now, are the original Elias Pettersson, Reichel, Aatu Raty and Max Sasson.

Vancouver is a dog city, filled with people who have dogs, love dogs and would react just as Brock Boeser did last week when the longest-serving Canuck, heartbroken, missed two games to say goodbye to his beloved dog, Coolie.

Boeser had adopted Coolie at the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, when Boeser was a 20-year-old rookie with the Canucks.

When Boeser was alone in Vancouver, he had Coolie. During his dadâ€s years-long fight against cancer and dementia and Parkinsonâ€s Disease, Brock had Coolie. In the dark spell that followed Duke Boeserâ€s death, when Brock at one point asked the Canucks for a trade and was unsure where his career was going, he had Coolie.

So when Boeser got a phone call during the last Canucks road trip, telling him that Coolie not only was suffering with cancer but the disease had spread throughout the dogâ€s body, the 28-year-old flew home to say goodbye to the friend who had helped him through everything.

And if you think thatâ€s still not a good enough reason to miss a couple of hockey games in October, we hope that one day you will know what itâ€s like to love something unconditionally and have that love returned.

Source link