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Canucks head coach Adam Foote confirms Demko skated this morning, but will not backup vs. Blue Jackets
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Nov 8, 2025, 16:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 8, 2025, 15:23 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to town for Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night. However, they’ll have to do it without their starting goaltender, Thatcher Demko.
Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote met with the media following pre-game skate with an update on his star netminder:
“Demmer won’t be playing tonight. He won’t be backing up tonight, but he went out this morning. He’s still doing his thing, preparing for, you know, the next time he plays.”
Foote confirmed that Lankinen will get the start tonight against the Blue Jackets, with recently called-up Jiri Patera serving as his backup. However, Foote did not confirm whether Demko would be available for Sunday’s contest against the Colorado Avalanche. 
It appeared Demko skated ahead of the main groups pre-game skate. CanucksArmy can confirm that he was at the rink today, as we saw him outside of the Canucks dressing room. After Thursday’s practice, Foote explained a little bit more in-depth about exactly what is going on with Demko:
“We asked him this summer, and we had a conversation with him to take care of himself, and know in a condensed schedule when he feels he needs a little bit of time off, and that’s what he’s doing. I don’t want to say words that people don’t like, like maintenance [or that] sort of thing, but l’ll give you an example. If you play a long time — not Thatcher — but say you have a back surgery early in your career. As you get a chance to play a long time, you know in your last seven years, five years, the latter half of your career, there’s times where you can feel something else come, [because of] compensation, right? So, you might have to have a maintenance day or some time to work on something, so that’s it, that’s all.”
Lankinen will start for the second straight game for the first time all season. He’s coming off a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, in which he allowed four third-period goals, finishing with a 4.14 goals against average and a .852 save percentage. 
Patera will be on the bench for his first NHL game since the 2023-24 season with the Vegas Golden Knights. In seven career starts, Patera has a 3-3-1 record, with a 3.52 goals against average and a .902 save percentage. With Abbotsford this season, the Czech netminder has a 1-2-1 record, with a 3.10 goals against average, and a .894 save percentage.

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