Canucks’ Daniel Sedin: No timeline for Thatcher Demko’s return

The Vancouver Canucks were the worst team in the NHL last season, finishing with a record of 25-49-8 as the franchise continues to enter into a full-blown rebuilding process.

For most of last season, the club was without starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, whose long-term injury issues were a factor again, as he was limited to just 20 appearances in a regular season that was cut short when it was announced in late January that he would undergo hip surgery.

The Canucks are facing quite an uphill battle to being in the mix in the playoff race this season, but any scenario that sees them meaningfully improve would be greatly boosted by the return of an in-form Demko.

In an interview with Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK in Vancouver, team co-president Daniel Sedin shared that there is no timeline in place for Demko’s return to the crease.

“Thatcher’s been at home working hard,” Sedin said. “Obviously there’s no timeline for him. We want him to come back and be 100 percent, so when that happens, we’ll see. He’s worked really hard this summer, so it will be really fun to get him back and important for our group.”

Demko, a 30-year-old native of California who Vancouver chose with the No. 36 overall pick in the second round of the 2014 NHL Draft, went 8-10-1 last year with a .895 save percentage and 2.90 goals against average. Demko has appeared in over half of the games in a regular season just twice in his career, and on both occasions, he finished within the top seven of voting for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.

For his career, Demko owns a 134-99-21 record with 10 shutouts along with a .909 SV% and 2.81 GAA. As long as Demko remains sidelined, Kevin Lankinen will serve as the Canucks’ primary starter. The organization also has Nikita Tolopilo, Aku Koskenvuo and Ty Young as its other goalies currently under contract.