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Player Discussion Thatcher Demko

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WTG said:
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Pretty standard, I was disappointed to be honest. You can go on any goalie school instagram and see most of this stuff.

Clark waxes on a lot, personally I would like it but you can see how some vets probably don't give a shit.

I saw a paywall of a different session that covered something similar to around 7:00 and on....probably the most interesting in terms of his philosophy on building coverage on desperation saves. Nothing super revolutionary but I think his packaging of it is excellent.

Unfortunately in recent games when he's been tired Thatcher hasn't built the coverage as Clark suggests here...middle, low, flush, long,

Also interesting that Clark says several times that you want your feet as much as possible but one of my biggest critiques of Demko's game is that he's slide happy and gives up his feet prematurely.

Battle drills are kind of cool but I always thought this was one of Demko's natural strengths already.

There are a bunch of Demko tendencies I've been harping on for awhile now that I think he needs more repetitions on. He could definitely stand to hold his edges longer, and his bailing to this posts is counterproductive to that. He also defaults to blocking far too early in specific scenarios, especially glove side bad angle. Lately he's losing his track completely and his net a little bit on situations where he has to go post to slot. Slot to post he is fine.
 
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Also I don't like the upright shuffles, they are the easiest to do and it's not very realistic. You'd be using that on a point shot and have lots of time to reposition using basically any skating technique you like. Mid range you wouldn't be set and close range you're leaving all sorts of holes. If anything Demko needs "warp speed" shufffles when he's in his full ready stance.

Should recruit a practice squad guy for the screens, Demko basically had to do zero work in the drill as shown since Clark is much smaller and in games I don't think Demko's screen work has gotten appreciably better.
 
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God said:
Honestly it's weird that the Ian Clark extension was even up for debate. After the clear emergence of Markstrom and Demko under Clark's tutelage, any organization would be chomping at the bit to retain someone like that. Have to wonder whether it was Benning/Weisbrod or Aquilini taking pause. Thinking it's more the latter due to cash flow problems, but Demko forced his hand.
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It was a debate because of how much of a shit show the Canucks were and the loud whispers about whether Ian wanted to stick around or not.
 
I think Clark has done a great job with Demko but he does tend to be a "one goalie" coach if you look back at his history.
 
mathonwy said:
It was a debate because of how much of a shit show the Canucks were and the loud whispers about whether Ian wanted to stick around or not.
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I was referring more to the supposed internal debate, where media reported that Clark had a deadline day for an extension and it had come and gone. You know, it probably was just that Weisbrod had too much to do and let it slip.
 
God said:
Honestly it's weird that the Ian Clark extension was even up for debate. After the clear emergence of Markstrom and Demko under Clark's tutelage, any organization would be chomping at the bit to retain someone like that. Have to wonder whether it was Benning/Weisbrod or Aquilini taking pause. Thinking it's more the latter due to cash flow problems, but Demko forced his hand.
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The man who showed the door to Lawrence Gilman, Lorne Henning, Eric Crawford and Judd Brackett is imo quite capable of also giving the boot to Ian Clark. He'd already managed to replace highly regarded goalie coach Roland Melanson (when Melanson decided to move on) with Clark and could very well have decided he could replace another.
 
RussianRacket said:
Now now let's not exaggerate. Roland Melanson was highly regarded by exactly one person, Roberto Luongo. And its not a fault that he hitched his ride to one of the greatest goalies in hockey history. But he has not had any success whatsoever outside of Luongo in Vancouver.

Hiring Clark was a stroke of genius.
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Schneider? Markstrom? Lack?

He had all those guys playing great.
 
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RussianRacket said:
Now now let's not exaggerate. Roland Melanson was highly regarded by exactly one person, Roberto Luongo. And its not a fault that he hitched his ride to one of the greatest goalies in hockey history. But he has not had any success whatsoever outside of Luongo in Vancouver.

Hiring Clark was a stroke of genius.
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Look man, I respect your (IMO unfounded optimism) but this is just misinformation.

Melanson resurrected Theodore's game. He had a hand in Halak having a long and great career. He shaped Price's early career. Even though Price didn't like it at the time, he's since pointed to Rollie's influence as something that made him an all-world goalie and credits Rollie for his movement drills.

You do know that Clark was originally Lu's goalie coach in Florida but Melanson had to be the one that taught him modern NHL skating and mobility right? Also Lu had a four-headed dragon going on with Clark, Rollie, Allaire, and his brother so that was a lot of cooks in the kitchen but tha'ts for another time.

Rollie developed Schneider, Marky, and Lack.

Not every goalie coach works for every goalie. Clark hasn't been able to get much out of Halak or Holtby. They let him walk from Columbus because he didn't think he worked with young goalies and Bob had been traded already.

I know it's a much simpler narrative to say Clark was this huge godsend but we should probably just be glad he seems to work well with Demko and be happy with that.
 
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People need to stop with this Demko as the 2nd coming. He was just “average” to maybe “good” this year. I see these “Vezina caliber goalie” comparisons and it makes me laugh. He’s 21st in GAA and 14th in SP%. He has 1 shutout this year. The numbers as …. Average.

People then say “well we rode him to the ground” …. He’s played the exact same amount as Markstrom who has 9 shutouts , 5th in SP and 3rd in GAA


Stop with the “elite goalie” nonsense. It sounds dumb if anyone outside of this market hears it.
 
Johnny Canucker said:
People need to stop with this Demko as the 2nd coming. He was just “average” to maybe “good” this year. I see these “Vezina caliber goalie” comparisons and it makes me laugh. He’s 21st in GAA and 14th in SP%. He has 1 shutout this year. The numbers as …. Average.

People then say “well we rode him to the ground” …. He’s played the exact same amount as Markstrom who has 9 shutouts , 5th in SP and 3rd in GAA


Stop with the “elite goalie” nonsense. It sounds dumb if anyone outside of this market hears it.
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Respectfully disagree, as I pointed out before he's doing well in all sorts of metrics where shot quality and location are taken into account.

IMO this was another development year for him, and his stats getting perforated in the last 10 games are a part of him learning to take on the workload of an NHL starter.

It is definitely on him to improve next season and be able to sustain his performance over the entire season including the last bits. Like if he is mentally tired now, how could we count on him to play for another 16 playoff games? I do have faith he will get to that point though.
 
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mossey3535 said:
Respectfully disagree, as I pointed out before he's doing well in all sorts of metrics where shot quality and location are taken into account.

IMO this was another development year for him, and his stats getting perforated in the last 10 games are a part of him learning to take on the workload of an NHL starter.

It is definitely on him to improve next season and be able to sustain his performance over the entire season including the last bits. Like if he is mentally tired now, how could we count on him to play for another 16 playoff games? I do have faith he will get to that point though.
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I don’t think you are correct. You want to cherry pick “metrics” but not look at the 3 categories the NHL looks at and have been used forever in GAA , SP, SO etc.

Also rewind 10 games back and he was still not in the top 10 in any of those 3 stats so that argument is moot. Also the 3 goalies who have played more than him , all have better stats.

Your last point as “this is another development year” for him, sure. Then let’s just say that and not think he’s above average. Let’s just say that he’s had an average year because he’s still learning and not he’s a top 5 or even top 10 NHL goalie.
 
Johnny Canucker said:
I don’t think you are correct. You want to cherry pick “metrics” but not look at the 3 categories the NHL looks at and have been used forever in GAA , SP, SO etc.

Also rewind 10 games back and he was still not in the top 10 in any of those 3 stats so that argument is moot. Also the 3 goalies who have played more than him , all have better stats.

Your last point as “this is another development year” for him, sure. Then let’s just say that and not think he’s above average. Let’s just say that he’s had an average year because he’s still learning and not he’s a top 5 or even top 10 NHL goalie.
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Things such as PK are heavily team dependent. Demko has done very well at 5v5 (top 3 in players with 1000 minutes). Outside the top 40 in the PK (100 mins).

JR needs to fix the PK and the PKers.
 
rypper said:
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Very smart. Play your injured franchise goalie in a futile attempt to squeak into the playoffs. This could have been, could end up being as a worst case scenario, a catastrophically bad decision. Can’t make fun of Vegas for doing the same stupid thing.
 
There was a Kuzma tweet about it, with a follow up that basically said he was hurt but still able to play and then it was another "funny little play" later that sidelined him for good.
 
Jim Rutherford has described Demko as a 'franchise goalie'. And for a GM who had Marc Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh, that's praise he doesn't throw around lightly.

The only issue with Demko is the concern over injuries. He's already had double hip labrum surgery, and playing behind the Canucks defense, he's going to take a beating in the crease.

But when he's 'on', Demko is clearly one of the top 3-4 goalies in hockey. He's a guy you can build around. You look at the struggles in Edmonton and TO to find even 'middle-of-the road, average goaltending', and you realize how the lucky the Canucks are.
 
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