Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko is undergoing season-ending hip surgery, adding another nightmare chapter to their season. Has Demko played his last game in a Canucks uniform?
In this nightmare of a season for them, the Vancouver Canucks are dealing with one problem after another.
Whether it's trading their best player in defenseman Quinn Hughes or potentially dealing more veterans, the Canucks' roster and future are very much in flux.
On Tuesday, Vancouver brass announced another star – injured goaltender Thatcher Demko – will not play again this season as he undergoes hip surgery next week.
After his latest injury, it's clear he and the rebuilding Canucks are at a crossroads. And if we managed the Canucks, we'd look at a trade.
Demko played only 20 games this year due to injury issues. And a separate injury last season limited Demko to only 23 games.
The 30-year-old has played more than 35 games just two times in seven full NHL seasons – and while his .918 save percentage and 2.45 goals-against average in 2023-24 are career highs, he only ended up playing once in that playoff run.
Demko did make a vote of confidence in the Canucks – and vice versa – when he signed a three-year, $25.5-million contract extension last July. But at that point, it was tough to imagine Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin dealing Hughes and embarking on a full rebuild.
By re-signing Demko, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland, it looked like the Canucks were going to rebound from a bad 2024-25 season that had injuries and dressing room drama. Instead, the opposite has happened.
With the possibility of the Canucks trading a slew of veterans on short-term deals and possibly even No. 1 center Elias Pettersson in the weeks and months ahead, you'd have to wonder whether Demko will play the next three years with the Canucks.
Even if Demko wants to stick around, would anyone be all that shocked if Allvin dealt the goaltender before his full no-move clause kicks in?
In a league that values great goaltending, Allvin will likely be able to get quite the trade package in return for Demko. That said, Demko's salary rises from $5 million this season to $8.5 million for the next three years, and given his issues staying healthy, Allvin may not be able to get as much on the trade market as he might've earlier in Demko's career. Any interested team would take a chance on him recovering from this latest nagging injury and playing out the new contract without issues.
But until his new contract kicks in on July 1, Demko doesn't have any no-trade or no-move clause right now, so the time to trade him should come sooner than later if the Canucks choose to go that route. Allvin and Vancouver's president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, have to be proactive and not reactive in this situation.
In the right circumstance, Demko could be extremely valuable for a team looking to take the next step as Cup contenders.
It's true that Demko's numbers this season – including a 2.90 GAA and .897 SP – were affected by the terrible Canucks team in front of him. But there was a nagging injury that he's addressing now with surgery, and he's expected to be healthy in time for training camp. And when he has played more than 50 games in a season, his save percentage was .915 or better.
Even despite a less-than-ideal goals-against average and save percentage this season, he still logged two goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com. That means he was stopping everything he was likely to stop more often than not.
If Vancouver somehow rebounds from these two years of woes, there may be a faint hope that Demko stays a Canuck. But Vancouver has veteran Kevin Lankinen signed through the 2029-30 campaign at a $4.5-million cap hit, so if they're rebuilding, they don't necessarily desperately need to keep Demko. They can clear that cap space and invest in a different starting goaltender instead.
Demko may be going through some unfortunate luck on the health front, and who knows – he could bounce back to once again be one of the best goaltenders in the league. But it seems now more likely than ever that Demko is going to be an ex-Canuck sooner than later if the team is rebuilding and hasn't been able to rely on him as a starter.
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