Player Discussion Thatcher Demko

[Tables of Stats]

I know there is a lot of panic, but you have to stick with Demko at this point. He's making 5 million so it's not like he's breaking the bank of your cap. The Canucks only have Silovs and Young in the system, neither are projected to be starters.

Unless the Canucks get another starter via trade (unlikely), or draft one (won't be ready in time). You have to stay with Demko and hope he can ride it out. For all we know it might just be day-to-day.

I'm guessing you don't rate Tolopilo, Koskenvuo, and Thiessen very highly?

 

[Svencouver]

I'm guessing you don't rate Tolopilo, Koskenvuo, and Thiessen very highly?

Regardless of how you rate anyone in the system you cant rely on their projection until they've at least been tested for a season or two in a backup role. They just don't have time to wait and see. The Canucks are not going to want to take that route unless something truly extraordinary happens with their development with the teams window opening. Not even all-world prospects much better than any of those guys like Wolf, Knight, Wallstedt, Cossa, and Levi can step into the NHL like that.

 

[Nucker101]

I'm guessing you don't rate Tolopilo, Koskenvuo, and Thiessen very highly?

I don't think any non-homer does.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

I don't quite understand these two supposedly separate injuries to the same knee that both allowed Demko to keep playing in the game he was injured in. At least, I can't remember this kind of thing happening with a goalie before.

 

[strattonius]

I'm guessing you don't rate Tolopilo, Koskenvuo, and Thiessen very highly?

We don't really have 5 years to wait and see if one of these guys turns in to something. I mean common man.

 

[theguardianII]

Stop pretending you're a doctor because you read a Wikipedia page.

It just sounds like you're describing the average 60 year old woman on the challenges arthritis will pose in their life.

Demko is not immune to arthritis or bone deterioration but he's a professional athlete >30 that excerises and stretches his muscles, joints, etc far more than the average person. So again, let's not pretend reading Wikipedia on arthritis is some sort of trump card.

Ditto.
At least I can say I did some looking into the hip impingement epidemic caused from the "butter fly" style.

If you think what I say is worthy of thinking I am a doctor, I have a bridge to sell.

According to you exercise stops osteoarthritis.

Remember the goalie for the Avalanche when they won the cup?

 

[WTG]

I'm guessing you don't rate Tolopilo, Koskenvuo, and Thiessen very highly?

Demko stepped into the NCAA and was a top-end goaltender starting goaltender in his draft year. He put up a .919 in his draft year, .925 draft+1, and .935 draft +2 before making his AHL debut as an instant starter at 20.

Thiessen will maybe make his pro debut when he is 24 and put up no higher than a .905 in his NCAA career.
Tolopilo is 24 and is splitting with Silovs, although he probably wouldn't since Silovs has been called up for a while with Demko out. He's put on a .905 this year.

Out of those three, Koskenvuo would probably be the best option since he just turned 21 and has decent NCAA numbers. But he's still splitting time in Harvard.

Compare these three prospects to Demko. They don't come close to how elite Demko was as a prospect. That's who the Canucks need to replace if they were to depart from Demko.

Only Silovs comes close, considering he was Abbotsford team MVP and IIHF World Championship MVP. His numbers don't scream NHL top-10 starter. Silovs needs to be the backup next year and prove it as Demko did at the same age.

 

[strattonius]

According to you exercise stops osteoarthritis.

Nothing fully stops a degenerative disease but there are ways to prolong it. The best way is a healthy weight and exercise - so yeah Demko isn't really going to be subjected to this world until later life.

 

[VanJack]

I'm sensing that the Canucks aren't all that shocked with the latest Demko setback. Silovs is currently up with the big club on 'emergency recall'......which is kind of surprising, since it's not as if their farm team is thousands of miles away.

They could have recalled Silovs and probably got him into town inside of an hour, although I guess the rest of the Baby Canucks are on a plane to Colorado as we speak.

Knee injuries can often be 'lingering', and only heal after a long off-season. I'm sure the Canucks brain-trust consulted with the team doctors, goaltending coach Ian Clark and Demko himself. And probably decided to push the envelope a bit to get him back.

Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see him again in these Cup playoffs.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

If this is true ( only the management will know) then you have to consider trading him this off season

 

[theguardianII]

Nothing fully stops a degenerative disease but there are ways to prolong it. The best way is a healthy weight and exercise - so yeah Demko isn't really going to be subjected to this world until later life.

He has already been subjected to it.
Both his hips have been operated on already, 8 years ago.
His Mom,
Mar 2, 2021 — "He had double hip surgery. He had an impingement on both sides, bone on bone, and he had torn labrums," said Thatcher's mom, Danielle Demko, " ..

Bone on bone, that's as bad as it could be.

Demko suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury in an April 19 home game against the Ottawa Senators. He stayed in the game, which the Canucks lost 4-3 in a shootout to end a six-game winning streak. Desperate to keep his team in the playoff race, Demko played hurt the next two games, allowing five goals in each during losses in Minnesota and Calgary, skewing his own statistics downward before coming out of the lineup.

He still won’t reveal the injury but confirmed it required surgery right after the season.

 

[Tables of Stats]

Demko stepped into the NCAA and was a top-end goaltender starting goaltender in his draft year. He put up a .919 in his draft year, .925 draft+1, and .935 draft +2 before making his AHL debut as an instant starter at 20.

Thiessen will maybe make his pro debut when he is 24 and put up no higher than a .905 in his NCAA career.
Tolopilo is 24 and is splitting with Silovs, although he probably wouldn't since Silovs has been called up for a while with Demko out. He's put on a .905 this year.

Out of those three, Koskenvuo would probably be the best option since he just turned 21 and has decent NCAA numbers. But he's still splitting time in Harvard.

Compare these three prospects to Demko. They don't come close to how elite Demko was as a prospect. That's who the Canucks need to replace if they were to depart from Demko.

Only Silovs comes close, considering he was Abbotsford team MVP and IIHF World Championship MVP. His numbers don't scream NHL top-10 starter. Silovs needs to be the backup next year and prove it as Demko did at the same age.

You did mention Young which is why I brought the other three up at all. I wasn't sure if you had Young rated higher than those 3 or if it was just that he's signed and they aren't.

Regardless of how you rate anyone in the system you cant rely on their projection until they've at least been tested for a season or two in a backup role. They just don't have time to wait and see. The Canucks are not going to want to take that route unless something truly extraordinary happens with their development with the teams window opening. Not even all-world prospects much better than any of those guys like Wolf, Knight, Wallstedt, Cossa, and Levi can step into the NHL like that.

Young was mentioned in the post I replied to which is why I asked about the other three. I rate Young below Tolopilo and Koskenvuo but none of our goalie prospects get talked about so I wasn't sure if there was any consensus about how to rank them.

I don't think any non-homer does.

That would be fair.

 

[Tables of Stats]

We don't really have 5 years to wait and see if one of these guys turns in to something. I mean common man.

Young was mentioned and I rate him as a worse NHL backup option than Tolopilo hence my question. I never made any noise about using them as a backup now or at any point in the future.

 

[Peen]

Woodley insinuating that he thinks Demko is likely done. Sad. (52 mins)

 

[arttk]

Woodley insinuating that he thinks Demko is likely done. Sad. (52 mins)

Ok that’s a long pod, what did Woodley say exactly?

 

[Nucker101]

Ok that’s a long pod, what did Woodley say exactly?

52 mins in

 

[David71]

damn its heading towards corey scheinder territory his career likely be done hes only 28

 

[arttk]

damn its heading towards corey scheinder territory his career likely be done hes only 28

Need to get a really good backup and play Demko no more than 3 games straight

 

[David71]

Need to get a really good backup and play Demko no more than 3 games straight

silovs isnt ready to be a backup. plus free agents dont have much in terms of goalie avaliabilty.. guess they would have to trade for one. and put demko on ltir.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Ye, probably time to go hard after another goalie and start running more of a tandem.

 

[arttk]

silovs isnt ready to be a backup. plus free agents dont have much in terms of goalie avaliabilty.. guess they would have to trade for one. and put demko on ltir.

Why the hell would you put Demko on LTIR next season if he’s healthy. We have to manage his games more by getting a better backup. Better backups are not that hard to find.

We need to figure out a way to get a 2nd rounder and draft a goalie this upcoming draft.

 

[lawrence]

I don't quite understand these two supposedly separate injuries to the same knee that both allowed Demko to keep playing in the game he was injured in. At least, I can't remember this kind of thing happening with a goalie before.

could be mind games we've been playing by not disclosing injuries and the time of recovery. Not sure if its a good or bad thing either. On X they are saying its a different injury, so its good. Right? But it means he has another injured part to deal with. So that's not good.

damn its heading towards corey scheinder territory his career likely be done hes only 28

2 things that are the most difficult to deal with long term. Being a fan of this game for all these years.

It seems like

-Knee injuries
-Lower back injuries

seems to the hardest to come back from and high likely chance of being a reoccuring thing, as I've noticed back in 2005, by that time, Dan Cloutier 29, our "Starter" since 2001 at the time, had reoccoruing knee injures, over and over and over again. he injured his knee during the playoffs against Calgary, he takes the year off because of the lock out, full year off, reinjures his knee in November.

Roberto Luongo. Gets into his first injury during the 07-08 season. Just a minor set back. He injures himself again in 2009, granted he was healthy, but over time, his knee injuries caught up to him. Knee injuries and "goalies" don't go well together. Even Bure had to retire at 32 because of knee injuries.

Need to get a really good backup and play Demko no more than 3 games straight

but we didn't play him more then 3 straight

damn its heading towards corey scheinder territory his career likely be done hes only 28

Need to get a really good backup and play Demko no more than 3 games straight

silovs isnt ready to be a backup. plus free agents dont have much in terms of goalie avaliabilty.. guess they would have to trade for one. and put demko on ltir.

I think we need to revisit what we did in 2020, when he had Markstrom, But benning decided to sign Braden Holtby to a one year deal, like a proven goalie that is willing to sign for one year, or like Marc Andre Fleury. I'm personally think we are done with Demko after his contract. He's literally gotten injured every year since we made him our number 1.

Ye, probably time to go hard after another goalie and start running more of a tandem.

 

[arttk]

could be mind games we've been playing by not disclosing injuries and the time of recovery. Not sure if its a good or bad thing either. On X they are saying its a different injury, so its good. Right? But it means he has another injured part to deal with. So that's not good.



2 things that are the most difficult to deal with long term. Being a fan of this game for all these years.

It seems like

-Knee injuries
-Lower back injuries

seems to the hardest to come back from and high likely chance of being a reoccuring thing, as I've noticed back in 2005, by that time, Dan Cloutier 29, our "Starter" since 2001 at the time, had reoccoruing knee injures, over and over and over again. he injured his knee during the playoffs against Calgary, he takes the year off because of the lock out, full year off, reinjures his knee in November.

Roberto Luongo. Gets into his first injury during the 07-08 season. Just a minor set back. He injures himself again in 2009, granted he was healthy, but over time, his knee injuries caught up to him. Knee injuries and "goalies" don't go well together. Even Bure had to retire at 32 because of knee injuries.


but we didn't play him more then 3 straight





I think we need to revisit what we did in 2020, when he had Markstrom, But benning decided to sign Braden Holtby to a one year deal, like a proven goalie that is willing to sign for one year, or like Marc Andre Fleury. I'm personally think we are done with Demko after his contract. He's literally gotten injured every year since we made him our number 1.

I mean next season, we played him like 5 or 6 straight a couple of times?

 

[lawrence]

https://x.com/ddemko95/status/1782860807577231624

Demko's mom indirectly confirms it.

 

[centipede2233]

Demko turning into bishop. Time to move on from demko.