Why Thatcher Demko is both the biggest bounce back and breakout candidate for Canucks next season

Netminder has shown flashes of brilliance in stretches now needs to display that form for entire season

After missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for a third straight season, the Vancouver Canucks are used to having a roster full of bounce back candidates -- players that need to step up and regain the form they've displayed in previous years. Thatcher Demko finds himself at the top of that list heading into the 2023-24 National Hockey League season.

It's hard to imagine the 27-year-old San Diego native won't make more than 32 starts or post more than 14 wins as he did in a forgettable last season when he got off to a miserable start and then missed nearly 12 weeks with a lower body injury. 

The good news for the Canucks and their fans is that when Demko returned to the line-up in late February, he looked like the netminder the Vancouver hockey market knows he can be. A rested Demko started 17 of the team's final 23 games posting an 11-4-2 record with a 2.52 goals against average and a 91.8% save percentage -- a full eight tenths of a percent above his career average.

So in that regard, the bounce back has already begun for Demko considering he opened the season winless in his first six attempts and posted a 3-10-1 record with a 3.93 GAA and an 88.3% save percentage before getting hurt in a December 1st game against Florida. It got so bad for Demko in the early going last season that Bruce Boudreau chose Spencer Martin over him for a featured Saturday night contest in Toronto in mid-November.

The Canucks will need Demko to be ready from the drop of the puck in their October 11th season opener against Edmonton. Both the player and the team in front of him need better starts to the season than they had last season. That goes without saying.

Part of bouncing back for Demko is to get his game to a level he is most certainly capable of. The breakout part of the equation comes in keeping his play at that level for an entire season something he has yet to do in his four plus years as a full-time NHL'er.

Demko has shown flashes in games and in the COVID bubble. And over the course of an incredible December 2021, his performance was recognized as one of the league's three stars of the month. In eight games over that span, he went 7-1 with a minuscule 1.72 goals against and a staggering 94.6% save percentage. The month also included a shutout win over the Los Angeles Kings. That led to his selection as one of the Team Pacific goaltenders at the 2022 All Star game in Las Vegas.

So, without question, there have been stretches where Demko has looked the part of an elite NHL goalie. Now he needs to stay healthy, avoid any dips in his performance and be a difference maker for the Canucks nearly every time out. 

In his best season so far (2021-22), Demko started 61 games going 33-22-7 with a 2.72 goals against average and a 91.5% save percentage. And he did that behind a porous defense that couldn't kill a penalty. What if Demko can elevate his play on a nightly basis to run with a 92.5% or maybe even a 93.0% save percentage?

Ilya Sorokin gave the New York Islanders 92.4% goaltending in his 62 starts last season while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 92.0% of the shots he faced over 64 starts in Winnipeg. And they both paled in comparison to Linus Ullmark who made goaltending look easy behind an incredible Boston blueline. The Vezina winner rolled with a 1.89 GAA and an amazing 93.8% save percentage in a record regular season.

So it can be done. And Demko has shown an ability to raise his game in spurts. But there have been consistency issues, too. However, with the additions of Filip Hronek, Ian Cole and Carson Soucy bolstering Rick Tocchet's attention to detail system, the Canucks defense should be better next season. That, in turn, ought to make Demko's job a little easier facing far fewer high danger chances than he has in the past.

Certainly his workload will be worth monitoring after the mid-season injury last year and the season-ending injury after being overused the previous year. If the Canucks can find the sweet spot for Demko's usage then it's reasonable to ponder the idea of him producing his best season so far possibly even working his way into the Vezina conversation.

After Elias Pettersson's 102 point season, Quinn Hughes producing 76 points and Andrei Kuzmenko scoring 39 in his first NHL season, not to mention JT Miller a year removed from a career-best 99 point campaign, it's hard to imagine those players taking their games to another level entirely. But of all the players on the Canucks roster, a strong case can be made that Thatcher Demko possesses the most untapped potential to join the conversation as one of the best in the business at his position.