On the eve of the National Hockey League kicking off the regular season in North America and two days before the Vancouver Canucks open up their season, there is some more clarity on Dakota Joshua and Thatcher Demko’s timelines.

TSN’s Darren Dreger appeared on Sekeres and Price on Monday morning and discussed what he’s hearing regarding a timeline for Joshua and Demko.

“It’s optimism on both fronts. The outside timeline – and let’s not staple this down – is 3-4 weeks. And we know that Dakota Joshua is continuing to recover from testicular cancer and the treatments that go along with that. So, that sounds like great news. He’s an important team guy… Thatcher Demko and that mysterious knee recovery situation. [There’s] Not a lot of details what’s actually going on there, but again, same sort of timeline, that 3-4 weeks. If it’s a bit shy of three weeks, if it drifts into that fourth week, I don’t think there should be panic across the board. But again, a sense of optimism if you’re looking at it internally from the Canucks’ perspective that those two pieces — especially Demko, who’s kidding who, he’s a game changer as an NHL netminder. If they can get him into the mix early into the regular season, a month in worst case scenario, I think that puts Vancouver in a really good position moving forward.”

Watch the full clip below:

Joshua, 28, is coming off a breakout season, setting career-highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), plus-minus (+19), shots on goal (84), hits (244), and ice time (14:23). He started training camp with a physical altercation with Conor Garland, but turned that anger to friendship as they became one of the Canucks’ deadliest duos. Joshua revealed an offseason testicular cancer diagnosis ahead of training camp and is recovering from the successful treatment he underwent.

Demko has been rehabbing a popliteus injury he suffered during game one of round one of the 2024 playoffs, which the star netminder called “rare and unique.”

The Canucks will set their opening night roster later this afternoon.