Subscribe
Follow Us
The Vancouver Canucks have been patiently waiting for the return of Thatcher Demko in 2024-25 — and they may not be without their star netminder much longer. Demko could be back in the lineup later in November, Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reported on Friday.
“There’s a growing hope that Thatcher Demko will be back for the Vancouver Canucks before the end of November. That’s a big step forward,” said the hockey insider. “You saw him join the boys for the optional morning skate in Los Angeles yesterday. Now, the goal will be to stack two weeks of solid practice on top of each other. Demko is feeling pretty good. He’s feeling confident, like he has turned the corner.”
Demko was back on the ice taking shots from his Canucks teammates at morning skate ahead of a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Although he hasn't yet participated in a full practice, that's the next step in the American's recovery, per TSN's Darren Dreger.
“He’s been going through his goalie workouts, and he has been skating and he has been taking shots, but he hasn’t practiced with the full group,” he said. “The hope is that Thatcher will return to the full team practice this week. Then, after that, you start looking at a countdown. Now, are we talking several days?”
“Are we still talking in the week-to-week category? One thing we know here is that it’s been pretty evident that the Vancouver Canucks are not going to push Thatcher Demko. They don’t really feel like they need to. He’s been working his ‘you know what’ off in the background to make sure that the problem that he has isn’t going to develop into a bigger problem down the road.”
The impending return of Demko to the lineup is huge for this club, but Vancouver has been getting excellent goaltending from Kevin Lankinen in the interim.
Kevin Lankinen has been excellent in Thatcher Demko's absence
After last year's heroic playoff performance, Arturs Silovs has struggled mightily over three starts in 2024-25; he's managed a ghastly .797 save percentage and a 5.00 goals-against average.
But Lankinen has turned out to be a savvy signing by general manager Patrik Allvin. The Finnish netminder has backstopped the Canucks to a 7-0-2 record in his nine starts, adding a fantastic .923 save percentage and 2.08 goals-against average.
The 29-year-old has done his job and more between the pipes, and he's a big reason why Vancouver is 7-2-3 and third place in the Pacific Division. Still, Demko was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season, and his return will be an enormous boost to a strong Canucks roster. If all goes well, it looks like that return could be a matter of weeks.
It's been a rocky road since Demko suffered a mysterious knee injury in the first game of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it looks like the long road to recovery is finally coming to an end — much to the delight of Canucks fans.
Vancouver will look to win its fourth consecutive game when the Edmonton Oilers visit Rogers Arena on Saturday night. It's the first of a six-game homestand for the surging Canucks.
