Fully healthy Thatcher Demko embracing greater leadership role with Canucks

VANCOUVER — As theyâ€ve collected momentum during the National Hockey League pre-season, the Vancouver Canucks have also built up their leadership. This second construction project predates the first.

This time last year, the most important Canuck not named Quinn Hughes was still lost deep in injury uncertainty. With his rare and confounding torn popliteus muscle destabilizing his knee, Demko didnâ€t know last September when he would play again. On the darkest days, it was difficult to say if heâ€d play again.

Now fully healthy and fully empowered by new head coach Adam Foote to take a greater role in leadership, Demko starts the Canucks†final pre-season game Friday against the Edmonton Oilers and feels ready to help lead the team into what players plan on making a redemptive season after last yearâ€s upheaval.

“I feel like I’ve kind of checked all the boxes that I’ve needed to in the practices,†Demko told Sportsnet after Thursdayâ€s workout at the University of B.C. “Obviously, when you get into the games, there’s things that feel a little foreign as you’re kind of shaking off the rust. You know, I hadnâ€t played a pre-season game in two years. It’s different hockey this time of year — even different from a week from now. So it has been good to just get into the games, getting a little bit of peace of mind.â€

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In his post-practice press conference, coach Adam Foote was asked about changes he sees in top centre Elias Pettersson.

“What it seems to me,†Foote said, “what I see right now is he’s taken a real hard leadership role, which is very noticeable. You recognize it, and his teammates notice it. And his teammates are with him on it, too. Like, Demmerâ€s with him.â€

That leadership has been recognizable in a lot of Canucks.

From the time Foote was hired last May to replace Rick Tocchet, who left the team amid the rubble of last seasonâ€s dysfunction, the new head coach identified building stronger leadership as a key to rebuilding performance.

Itâ€s worth mentioning again that one of Footeâ€s first acts as coach was to meet in Michigan with Hughes, Demko and Pettersson. This was followed by Zoom meetings over the summer with a broader leadership group that included Tyler Myers and Marcus Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland, Filip Hronek and others.

Their buy-in has been evident since training camp began two weeks ago. The best players have been driving the Canucks.

“I think Footy kind of orchestrating everything the way he did in the summer really helped,†Demko said. “It’s (different) when guys get to camp, you know, maybe two weeks early, and then you start having discussions about leadership. But I think this was one of the things that Footy was really passionate about and had a lot of conviction about addressing. And credit to him, he did it. 

“He stepped in early — really early in the summer. You know, at times, it felt like: What are we going to get out of meeting this early? But kudos to him. He kind of had the vision before anyone else did. I don’t want to talk like weâ€ve got it all figured out because no one does. I mean, no one does in the world; we’re all clueless here. But yeah, it feels like everyone’s on the same page, the guys that have been here.â€

And how does that feel after last season?

“It’s an interesting feeling just because it’s not a really tangible thing,†Demko, who studied psychology at Boston College, said of the dynamic. “You know, it’s something that is so important, something thatâ€s always preached about with every team and every coach. Weâ€re always trying to accomplish the same things, but sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s harder to find, for whatever reason. But, yeah, it feels good right now. It feels like it’s been sharp. I think guys are being accountable. 

“You can kind of feel that just the practices have a lot of life. That makes it fun. It won’t be like that every day. You know, the seasonâ€s a grind and some days are a little bit lighter than others. We’re all just human beings trying to figure it out. But definitely there’s a crispness in execution, there’s a willingness to work for other people that, I think, is super important. That’s the biggest thing, you’re not just going out so you don’t get in trouble for not being there. You’re working hard for the guy next to you.

“That’s why we play. I mean, that’s why I play. You want to play for your teammates, you want to be doing what you can for them. It’s a good feeling when you get a collective group of people doing that for one another.â€

The Canucks will have close to their full NHL team on Friday, although Foote and his staff may take final looks at prospects like forwards Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and defencemen Elias Pettersson (Junior) and Tom Willander.

The Canucks reduced their pre-season roster by two wingers on Thursday, sending Joseph LaBate to the American Hockey League and waiving Vitali Kravtsov with the intention of doing the same. But the team still carries 27 players, not including third-string goalie Nikita Tolopilo and winger Nils Hoglander, who is out 8-10 weeks after undergoing ankle surgery.

Foote said depth defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph has a groin injury, and veteran blue-liner Derek Forbort will be rested so heâ€s ready for the Canucks†season-opener against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. 

Embracing a faster, more aggressive style under Foote, Vancouver is 3-2 in the pre-season and coming off an 8-1 thrashing of the Flames in Alberta on Wednesday.

Friday will be Demkoâ€s second start of the pre-season.

“When it gets to this point, one pre-season game left, it just becomes about being in your team and kind of maintaining the habits that you know are going to get you to where you need to be for opening night,†the 29-year-old goalie said. “Obviously, I’m happy that I’m not in the situation I was last year. I’d probably like to get to a point where we’re not talking about that every time I do media anymore.

“But, you know, I feel good and I think the team looks really good. Thereâ€s a lot of things that we’ve done really well that I think we’re just trying to continue to build. So it’s been good so far.â€

THURSDAYâ€S PRACTICE LINES AND PAIRINGS

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Kane-Chytil-Garland
Oâ€Connor-Cootes-Sherwood
Raty-Blueger-Lekkerimaki
Bains-Sasson-Karlsson

Hughes-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Myers
Pettersson (Junior)-Willander
Aman-Mancini

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