Demko nears another return from injury as Canucks gear up for final playoff push

NEWARK, N.J. – The way Thatcher Demko explains it, the two injuries he suffered this season are related to his major knee injury from last summer only in the context of preparation.

Spending an entire off-season wrestling with a torn popliteus muscle in his knee, an injury unprecedented for a National Hockey League goalie, prevented Demko from training and building the platform he needed to survive this season.

Which he hasn’t.

Last year’s Vezina Trophy runner-up fully practised with the Vancouver Canucks here Sunday for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury on Feb. 8. Including an undisclosed injury that caused him to miss a week in early January, Demko has played 17 games and missed 18 since returning Dec. 10 from that confounding knee problem.

“Obviously, it’s been a tough year,” Demko said after Sunday’s practice. “I’m not going to sugar coat it. You know, I think I was turning a good corner there right before the Four Nations break. (But) I started to kind of feel the effects of not really having a summer. Just the nature of my knee rehab, it wasn’t this kind of gradual solution that we found. It was more: do something to it one day, and then the next day I was ready to try and play. So it wasn’t like I had this build up of getting those reps and getting that strength back that you accumulate in the summer.

“We were searching, trying different things. You know, maybe this will work, maybe this. And we ended up finding one thing that just, like, set it into place. It was like overnight we were able to try and start playing again. So, I think I didn’t really have a good set table for this year as far as being prepared, and I’ve been kind of feeling the effects of that. But I’m a lot more knowledgeable now. I’ve learned a lot through this personally, not just physically — all lessons that I think are super valuable and that I’ll be able to lean on throughout the rest of my career. So I’m thankful for that. Yeah, it’s been frustrating, for sure.”

The seemingly endless series of challenges toppling like dominoes against the Canucks this season – injuries Saturday to Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander are the latest – began with Demko’s injury saga last summer and his indefinite absence when the season began.

“The knee situation was pretty traumatic on the whole system,” Demko continued. “It was such a major injury, there’s so much gray area, and then I felt like I was just trying to rush and get back into the net. I feel good now. I feel strong right now. I’m also very excited for, at the end of the season, just to have a really solid, clean summer where we’re not dealing with different things.”

As Demko prepares for his third return from injury in a little more than three months, the Canucks are three points out of a playoff spot with 12 games remaining. 

Saturday’s setback in Manhattan, where the Canucks outshot the New York Rangers 39-12 but manufactured a 5-3 regulation loss, felt like the end of their playoff hopes. The undisclosed injuries to first-line centre Pettersson and his linemate Hoglander that caused them to miss the third period did not help morale.

Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said Sunday that the forwards were “pretty sore and banged up” but didn’t rule them out for Monday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. The team had minor-league centre Aatu Raty standing by if needed.

Demko may also be able to help. The 29-year-old, whose best spell this season was the 10 days before his latest injury, is a candidate to at least back up Kevin Lankinen on Monday. The Canucks have another practice scheduled for Tuesday on Long Island, and it’s possible Demko could start the next night against the New York Islanders.

But it all may be too late.

“It’s been a tough year personally, it’s been a tough year for the team at times,” Demko said. “(But) just the ability to stick with it. . . we’re three points out of a spot last time I checked. I’m really proud of this group, and I’m hoping that when I come back, I’ll be able to contribute to whatever they’ve got going on and do my best in that regard.

“I mean, you’re part of the team, you have a roster spot and you get paid to play in big games. There’s a part of you that just wants to contribute. It’s part of being a teammate. You hate watching the team go through a tough loss. Like, you want to be out there losing with them if we’re going to lose. Like, let’s just do it together.”

Selected in the second round of the 2014 entry draft, Demko has been part of the Canucks organization longer than any player, although Brock Boeser beat him to the NHL in 2017. 

The goalie has spent all of his 236 NHL games with the Canucks, and has one-year remaining on the five-year, $25-million contract he signed with former general manager Jim Benning to replace Jacob Markstrom as the starter in Vancouver.

But the goaltending landscape changed during Demko’s recent injury when Lankinen, whose play has been like a life raft for the Canucks this season, was rewarded Feb. 21 with a five-year, $22.5-million extension.

Management plans to keep both goalkeepers, but signing Lankinen for starting-goalie money has created options for the Canucks.

“I think Kevin deserved every penny of that contract for what he’s done this year,” Demko told Sportsnet. “He’s a great guy, great teammate. He’s carried the mail for us this year and done it with good leadership and things like that. I don’t think you could ever be upset with a guy for earning his money. He certainly earned it, and I think the team has every right to reward a guy like that. I don’t think it has anything to do with me, but I’m happy for Kevin. I think he deserves it. I mean, I didn’t take offence to it or anything like that.

“I’d like to be here for as long as I can. I’ve always been committed to this team, and I love being a Canuck. So it didn’t change anything on my part.”

ICE CHIPS — With Pettersson missing from practice and Filip Chytil out with a concussion, Pius Suter centred the top line Sunday, skating between wingers Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser. The second line was Teddy Blueger between Conor Garland and Jonathan Lekkerimaki, while Nils Aman centred Kiefer Sherwood and Drew O’Connor on the third line.

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