The dark cloud hovering over the Vancouver Canucks organization this year continues to strike, as Canucks start goaltender, Thatcher Demko, has re-injured his knee at practice on Thursday. He was nearing his return from his injury but is now out indefinitely. He suffered his injury on December 1st at the end of the 1st period against the Florida Panthers.
Demko shaking out right leg after save this morning at UBC. Left practice moments later pic.twitter.com/Lhj3qjYdd6
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) February 17, 2023
He will likely be out for the rest of the season, as there really is no reason to rush him back. It’s better for him to fully recover and be ready for next season than rush him to come back and play when the Canucks season is already basically over, as it’s pretty much impossible for the Canucks to make the post-season this year.
While Demko has been recognized as a star goaltender across the league, he hasn’t had a stellar season this year to top his Vezina-caliber performances from last season. This season so far, Demko started in 15 games and had a record of 3-10-2 with a 0.883 save percentage. In comparison, last season Demko played in 64 games (started in 61 games) and had a record of 33-22-7 with a 0.915 save percentage.
Sounds like Thatcher Demko suffered a setback and tweaked something in practice on Thursday. #Canucks won’t know full extent of injury for a few days.
— Irfaan Gaffar (@irfgaffar) February 17, 2023
The plan was to have Demko be the backup for the Canucks game Vs Philadelphia Flyers game this Saturday, but that obviously won’t be the case anymore. If Demko did return, it wasn’t confirmed on who would have been sent down to make room for him. It likely would have been Arturs Silovs since he’s only played 1 game and it was in a losing effort. It’s obvious that the Canucks organization looks at Collin Delia as their backup goaltender, as they chose him over Spencer Martin and likely will choose Delia over Silovs.
With how bad things have gone for the Canucks this season, this isn’t even much of a surprise. The Canucks and their fans should just be used to bad news and bad misfortune every day. I’m sure Canucks fans can’t wait for this year to end, but should we really be excited for Canucks hockey next year? I guess it depends on how the trade deadline, the draft and free agency goes for them this year.