The Vancouver Canucks got the worst possible bit of injury news on Wednesday. Starting netminder Thatcher Demko hit the shelf again following his exit from Tuesday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
The Canucks dropped the game 5-3, but ended up losing far more. Demko played the first 20 minutes, surrendering three goals on eight shots. Kevin Lankinen relieved Demko at the start of the second period.
Meanwhile, insider Frank Seravalli dropped an update on Demko’s injury situation. The insider noted some “relatively” positive news, as Demko could miss two to three weeks with a “minor injury.”
According to Seravalli, the injury is not related to the knee injury that sidelined the former Vezina nominee for most of last season. Additionally, Tuesday night’s injury has nothing to do with his maintenance days last week.
Whether or not the Canucks are holding information back, the fact is that the team got the worst possible news. The club has already been depleted of much of its forward depth. Several defenders have also gone down this season.
In fact, captain Quinn Hughes also left the game after an awkward collision with Mark Scheifele. With so many players on the shelf, losing Demko was the worst thing that could have happened to the Canucks at this point in this season.
Demko Has Long Injury History
Harman Dayal of The Athletic wrote an interesting chronology of Demko’s injury history. In his November 12 piece, Dayal noted that the Canucks netminder has sustained five injuries over his last 37 games.
The string of injuries goes back to March 2024, when Demko left a game precisely against the Jets. The knee injury caused him to miss a month. That same knee injury led Demko to miss virtually all of the 2024 playoffs.
After surgery, Demko returned in January of this year, only to leave with a back injury. He returned about a month later, then left again to miss six weeks.
This season, Demko appeared to be healthy. His elite play signaled that the veteran netminder might finally be fully healthy. But now, he’s out once again with no firm timetable in place.
All told, the Canucks goalie has been unable to stay on the ice for more than five weeks at a time. That’s a highly concerning trend for a team looking to make the postseason.
Canucks Will Now Turn to Kevin Lankinen
A familiar script will now play out for the Canucks. The team will turn to Kevin Lankinen to hold the fort in Demko’s absence. Last year, Lankinen did an admirable job in Demko’s stead. He provided the Canucks with steady goaltending for most of the season.
However, things are slightly different this time around. The Canucks face a season with a compressed schedule. So, Lankinen won’t be able to play every game from here on out. At some point, the Canucks will need to turn to another goalie. That netminder figures to be Jiri Patera.
But then again, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin may be on the lookout for another goalie in case Patera isn’t ready to step in.
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