Canucks’ Thatcher Demko may not be available until February

Thatcher Demko’s return is trending towards being longer than the six weeks that was initially believed.

The Canucks starting goalie suffered a lower-body injury on December 1st and has not been seen around the rink since the injury.

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced that Demko would be out for approximately six weeks on December 3rd.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau was asked about Demko’s return on Tuesday morning and didn’t have positive news as it appears the Canucks’ starting goalie may not be back with the team until February.

“I’m hoping it’s within the next month,” said Boudreau when asked about any idea on a return for Demko.

“That may sound silly, hoping it’s in January, but you never know. We have that big break coming. It might be right after that. I was asking a bit but I wasn’t getting the answers that I really wanted. So I don’t know. I guess he’s making good progress [and] doing what the doctors [are] telling him. So, it’s just a question of his healing.”

The “big break” that Boudreau mentioned is between January 27th’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and February 6th against the New Jersey Devils. The extended break comes from the NHL All-Star Weekend — which will take place in Florida.

Demko has a 3-10-2 record this season and hasn’t looked like his dominant self throughout the year. The extra time off to fully recover is needed, as you don’t want to rush him back with the potential for an even longer-term injury to occur.

Since the Demko injury in the first period of the December 1st game, backup Spencer Martin has a 5-3-0 record with an 0.868% save percentage. Third-stringer Collin Delia has made one start and one relief outing, he posts a 2-0-0 record with a 0.920% save percentage.

Having Demko back in the net is certainly helpful for the Canucks, but having a fully healthy Demko needs to be the most important outcome of this injury situation. Rushing him back in any way cannot happen and with a good goaltending department, led by Ian Clark, we hope the Canucks will make the correct decision for Demko.