Thatcher Demko will return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup for the first time in more than seven months tonight.
Head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed this morning Demko will suit up as the team’s backup tonight when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit town. It’s his first time dressing for a game in 229 days. Kevin Lankinen will get his 19th start of the season.
Demko will suit up for the #Canucks for the first time in 229 days https://t.co/CpCentjmFJ
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) December 6, 2024
It’s been a long recovery road for Demko who hasn’t played since Game 1 of the first round last spring. He suffered a rare injury to his popliteus which had never been found in another hockey player. That made it a very difficult recovery process but at last the goalie is looking like himself.
“The guy works awfully hard,” said Tocchet about the goalie today. “He’s spent a lot of time by himself working out, he’s here at 7 am working with one trainer. What’s contagious to me is the hard work he does. I think the young guys see how dedicated he is, I see that really helps our locker room.”
The Canucks are taking on the Blue Jackets tonight who are top-10 in the league in scoring.
Demko has participated fully in practices for a few weeks now and had his own net during the team’s skate yesterday. Getting in game action is the final step and while he might not play tonight, it’s a possibility.
The netminder’s return means the Canucks have three goalies on their roster including Lankinen and Arturs Silovs. It’s likely the young Latvian, who has struggled this season, is sent down to the AHL soon.
“You can’t have him hang around not playing, so I’ll talk to Patrick [Allvin],” said Tocchet today. “Most likely he’s got to get some games down in Abbotsford but we haven’t talked about it yet.”
The next step for Demko is obviously to start a game. A timeline for that date will become more clear after practice tomorrow according to Tocchet.
“I’ll talk to Demmer after practice [tomorrow], if it’s the next game or the next game after or after that, we’re not quite sure,” started Tocchet. “But I definitely want to get a good practice and then talk to Demmer about it.”