There has been a considerable amount of concern in Vancouver after news broke that Canucks star goaltender Thatcher Demko suffered a ‘once in 50 year' injury last postseason that could keep him out of training camp later this September.

The 28-year-old was last in action against the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of Round 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He backstopped his club to a 4-2 win, but was unavailable for the rest of the series and did not appear at all against the Edmonton Oilers in Round 2 — a series the Canucks lost in seven games.

But according to insider Rick Dhaliwal, Demko is recovering well from the mysterious knee injury he suffered back on April 22, despite reports to the contrary this summer.

“Some good news, I'm hearing that Thatcher Demko is back skating and working out on the ice this week. That's a very good sign,” reported Dhaliwal. “Many people thought that Demko wouldn't be ready for training camp and preseason. This has got to be a major boost to the Canucks and a sign of progress as well… Major, major good news for the Canucks.”

Demko put together a terrific regular-season in 2023-24, going 35-14-2 along with a sparkling 2.45 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. He was a huge reason why the Canucks finished first place in the Pacific Division, and it earned him a nod as a Vezina Trophy finalist for the first time in his career.

The Canucks will need Demko healthy if they hope to make another push for the Stanley Cup in 2025 — and that's especially true with backup Arturs Silovs also dealing with an ailment of his own.

Canucks backup Arturs Silovs also dealing with an injury

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Silovs took over for Demko after the starter was unavailable for Game 2 against the Predators, and ended up performing well above-average throughout the postseason.

The 23-year-old Latvian shut out the Preds in a series-clinching Game 6, and allowed just six goals over the final four contests. He also performed admirably against a high-flying Oilers offense.

But Silovs suffered an injury of his own last week, just before the Olympic qualifying tournament for Latvia last weekend. Dhaliwal also provided an update on the netminder, reporting that he's “dealing with inflammation in his knee,” but “it's not expected that it's a serious injury.”

The plan is that Silovs will arrive in Vancouver at some point this week to be evaluated by team doctors. It makes sense that the Canucks are looking around for another goaltender — with unrestricted free agent Kevin Lankinen reportedly at the top of the list — with both Demko and Silovs potentially out for the start of training camp.

The hope in British Columbia is that both goaltenders will be fully healthy later in September as the Canucks look to build on a terrific 2023-24 campaign that saw them win the division for the first time since 2013.