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Thatcher Demko addresses his hip surgery recovery and future with the Canucks
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Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Arielle Lalande
Apr 17, 2026, 17:26 EDT
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During the Vancouver Canucks end-of-season media availability on Friday, Thatcher Demko addressed the injury he suffered in January that shut him down for the majority of the season and the underlying cause of his recurring injuries over the last two years.
Demko, 30, stated he underwent “major surgery” that was a “last resort” after consulting President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and Canucks medical staff this winter.
“We had glimpses coming into this season that there might be some underlying problems that [were]  causing some of the issues that I was having…at a certain point, we just realized that I wasn’t really able to … stay healthy.”
Demko started the season as the team’s starting goaltender, with Kevin Lankinen serving as backup, who was expected to assist with Demko’s load management. Demko was coming off a rare injury suffered to the popliteus muscle in the knee, an affliction that saw him limited to just 23 games throughout the 2024-25 season. 
While hopes were high that this season would be his successful return to the Canucks crease, Demko faced another injury in January of this year and was later placed on injured reserve. It was announced on January 27 that Demko would be shut down for the season to undergo hip surgery, unrelated to his previous knee injury, and expected to make a full recovery in time for Canucks training camp this September.
Demko did not detail the specifics of his most recent surgery, although he revealed that he had been “playing with zero degrees of internal rotation in the hip” over the last two years, a timeline that coincides with his knee injury early in the 2024 playoff series against the Nashville Predators.
This is not the first time that Demko has had hip surgery to address internal hip rotation, after he previously underwent a similar procedure while with Boston College in 2015. Despite this recurrence of a severely limiting injury, Demko stated that he has made significant improvements in movement and mobility in the two months since he underwent the procedure.
“This [surgery] is going to address pretty much everything that I’ve dealt with in the past…Some of the nagging stuff I had hopefully dissipates, and we’ve addressed the larger picture.”  
There has been no shortage of speculation about Demko’s future with the team after his extensive injury history dating back to his time in the NCAA and repeated recovery setbacks, but Demko made his commitment to the Canucks clear and outlined his hopes for the future. 
“I’ve said that I want to be here since the day I got drafted, regardless of what that looks like. I’ve never really felt this excited to play here and be a part of building something next year.”
Demko posted an 8-10-1 record, .897 SV%, and 2.90 GAA in 20 games during his short period of play in the 2025-26 season. He will remain in Vancouver over the offseason as he continues surgery rehabilitation and prepares to start fresh in training camp in September.
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