Canucks Jim Rutherford Gives Injury Updates On Thatcher Demko & Filip Chytil

More information has become available regarding the injuries and recovery for Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko and center Filip Chytil. On Thursday, Canucks President of Hockey Operations was a guest on the 100% Hockey podcast, which is hosted by John Shannon and Daren Millard. During the interview, Rutherford spoke about the two injured players and what is next for both Demko and Chytil. 

Starting with Demko, he recently had hip surgery and is out for the season. The 30-year-old has only played 43 games over the past two seasons as he has been dealing with a variety of injuries. Demko's new extension is also set to kick after this year and carries an AAV of $8.5 million until 2029.

"Well, I have a lot of confidence in where Demko is," said Rutherford. "Because I think they found the root of the problem now with the hip. And all the reports I get from all the medical people and whatnot, they feel getting this hip back to 100% for training camp will help relieve some of the other issues."

As for Chytil, he is currently on IR after suffering a facial fracture in practice. The 26-year-old has only played 12 games this year as he has been dealing with upper-body injuries. In his answer, Rutherford expressed his concern for Chytil and spoke about what the best plan of action may be. 

"I am concerned about Chytil," said Rutherford. I feel very bad. He's trying hard to get back to play, but when you're dealing with those head injuries, that's a very serious thing, and that's something he has to decide as to where his future is. But even coming back here just recently, the last few weeks, and excited about getting back playing and and then getting a freak accident in practice. I mean, that that's that was one in a million that that could happen. But this guy has just had a lot of bad luck, and I am concerned about his injury."

Rutherford was then asked if Chytil would be back this season and said, "I don't know. I would almost rather he didn't. I know he's out for four weeks. We're getting close to the end of the season, and I think it's almost better that he just tries to get 100% and take a look at where his future is going forward for next year."

Vancouver returns to action on Saturday when they take on the Seattle Kraken. As for the trade deadline, that is scheduled for noon PT on March 6. Game time for Saturday is set for 7:00 pm PT from Climate Pledge Arena. 

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