Here's how Thatcher Demko looked at Canucks practice today
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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko continues to make progress in his injury recovery.
The Vezina Trophy finalist was on the ice today after practice as he continues to rehab his knee ailment.
It was one of the goalie’s first public on-ice sessions since he hurt himself in Game 1 of the playoffs. He was first spotted back on the ice last week in Nashville.
Demko spent some time watching from behind the bench while the team practiced today. The Canucks had three goalies on the ice for their session including Arturs Silovs, Nikita Tolopilo, and Casey DeSmith.
He joined the group at UBC just as the Canucks were finishing practice. He was chatting with goalie coach Ian Clark shortly after getting on the ice.
Thatcher Demko has joined the #Canucks on the ice.
He’s chatting with Ian Clark. pic.twitter.com/SPRepPo5hu
— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) May 6, 2024
He then started going through some warmup movements, moving from side to side.
Thatcher Demko just doing some light movements on the ice at #Canucks practice. pic.twitter.com/yzePBWHzDI
— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) May 6, 2024
The goalie then moved on to some work, dropping into a butterfly position, but that was the extent of his training. Demko was not involved in any sort of live drills. He spent a considerable amount of time skating sprints from the goal line to the blue line as he continues to work his way back into the lineup.
Rick Tocchet said yesterday that he hopes Demko can return during the team’s second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers. While the goalie being on the ice in full pads is a good step, he looked quite far off being ready for game action today at UBC.
“Things change day-to-day,” said Tocchet yesterday. “There has been improvement, but to what extent?”
The Canucks have been getting excellent goaltending from Silovs and DeSmith over the past few games. This reduces the need for Demko to rush back from his knee injury.
While Silovs had a shutout last game against the Nashville Predators, Tocchet is still not tipping his hand as to who will start Game 1 against the Oilers.
“There’s questions that we’ll talk about but like I said, we don’t make decisions until tomorrow,” said the head coach today. “Tomorrow late afternoon, that’s when we’ll make a decision.”
“We’ve got capable goalies here.”
Game 1 happens on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.
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