Insider says Demko's injury cannot be fix by surgery, will need to learn to play with it

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Cooper Godin
September 8, 2024 (5:51 PM)

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An insider has given an update on Thatcher Demko's injury and it's something that he'll have to learn to play with this season.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is looking to turn the page on a tough ending to the 2023-24 season that saw him suffer a pair of injuries to the same knee, one of which came during the team's first game of round one against the Nashville Predators.

Demko has been recovering over the summer, but reports last month said that he won't be ready to go for training camp and preseason games, which caused some concern for the Canucks, understandably. Because of this, the Canucks have taken a look at the goaltending market and one name they've been linked to is former Predators netminder Kevin Lankinen.

One week after that initial report regarding Demko's availability for training camp and preseason games, Rick Dhaliwal gave an update saying that the 28-year-old is back skating and working out on the ice, which was great news for Rick Tocchet's group.

However, while Demko may be back to skating and could even be ready for training camp despite reports suggesting otherwise, the Canucks netminder's injury may be something he'll have to learn to play with this season.

During Friday's episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman shared that the injury Thatcher Demko has cannot be fixed by a surgery and it's something that he'll need to learn to play with going forward.

"He's going to have to learn to play with this. It's not something that can be fixed with surgery. It's something he's going to have to learn to play through and he can play through to a high level." Friedman said.

While the Canucks are hopeful that Thatcher Demko will be ready to go for opening night, we'll likely find out more about his availability once training camp opens for Vancouver on September 19th. If he's unable to start the season and Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin doesn't bring in another goaltender, they'll start the year with a tandem of Arturs Silovs and Jiri Patera, the latter of whom they signed as a unrestricted free agent in July.

Source: Canucks Daily
Elliotte Friedman gives an important update on Thatcher Demko: An unfixable injury?