Thatcher Demko

[Knight53]

Save to say his groin is fine. Just some absolute superstar calibre saves especially the one in OT.

Such a more visually appealing goalie to watch compared to Lankinen.

 

[calnuck]

Save to say his groin is fine. Just some absolute superstar calibre saves especially the one in OT.

Such a more visually appealing goalie to watch compared to Lankinen.

What does that even mean lol

 

[Szechwan]

What does that even mean lol

He's a f***in rocket bro

 

[lawrence]

Raise his trade value.

 

[VanJack]

The really sad thing to contemplate is that with a fully healthy Demko all season, this team is in a different place right now.

As good as Lankinen has been for him, there's only one Thatcher Demko. And when he's 100 percent healthy, he's still one of the best goaltenders in the league.

 

[RandV]

It's an easier thing to say now that he's back and winning but I've been thinking all season even with Lankinen extended if the team can thread the needle just right I think it's the right decision to keep going forward with both.

Now with Demko at peak performance if he was a guy who could stay healthy he'd be starting in the 8 year $10M per range like other recent top goalie signings. But fact is for 3 of the last 4 seasons when the teams needed him he's been injured, regardless of how next season goes teams are going to be wary of such a deal. On the other hand, aren't a lot of his injuries kind of random and unrelated? That kind of happened to Chris Tanev where he had 3 really bad injury years and people considered him to be made of glass, but it was a lot of unrelated random stuff and since leaving Vancouver he's been pretty consistent.

So personally I think if he can show next season he's still capable and hasn't been Schneider'd/DiPietro'd and you can get him at something like a 3 year 7-8M per contract, you do it.

 

[Raistlin]

With a healthy Demko, we can absorb the loss of a 1B center if we got a 2D in return and comfortably make playoffs and win rounds.
With a generational defenseman, and a top 5 goaltender in the world, thats the envy of all teams.
Demko is the ultimate equalizer to any offensive weapon, and Hughes is as good an offensive facilitator as any in recent memory.

Fact is though, Demko is becoming brittle, and so its plausable to entertain rebuilding talks if its determined that he cannot play full seasons anymore. its redundant to say, but Lankinen is no Demko.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

With a healthy Demko, we can absorb the loss of a 1B center if we got a 2D in return and comfortably make playoffs and win rounds.
With a generational defenseman, and a top 5 goaltender in the world, thats the envy of all teams.
Demko is the ultimate equalizer to any offensive weapon, and Hughes is as good an offensive facilitator as any in recent memory.

Fact is though, Demko is becoming brittle, and so its plausable to entertain rebuilding talks if its determined that he cannot play full seasons anymore. its redundant to say, but Lankinen is no Demko.

His explosive style does his body no favours.

I cringe at every highlight reel save he makes and will do so for the foreseeable future.

 

[BluesyShoes]

I think its a great sign that he can sit out for awhile and come back and regain form so quickly. His comeback earlier this season showed a bit more rust, but he's back in form pretty quickly this time around. Hopefully he's building his confidence up a bit so that he is more confident that he can stay sharp with a lower workload.

With Lank signed and decent depth in the minors, we can run a pretty conservative schedule for our goalies and treat them a bit more like a pitching bullpen, focusing on their health and recovery, and getting them to the playoffs fresh and healthy.

 

[Attack Vector]

Goaltending and Defence on Canucks are A+ with Demko now returning.

Just need to work on the forwards this off-season, emphasis should be on speed and goal scoring. They also have the cap space to go big game hunting this off-season.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

 

[FilHronek Orchestra]

His explosive style does his body no favours.

I cringe at every highlight reel save he makes and will do so for the foreseeable future.

I think you mean you wince.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

I think you mean you wince.

Love the new name.

 

[FilHronek Orchestra]

Love the new name.

Thank you very much! I won't even bullshit, yes I do feel super clever.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I think you mean you wince.

Maybe I do

Edit. Had to check. I do indeed. Wonder what word I were thinking... grimace..?

 

[mossey3535]

His explosive style does his body no favours.

I cringe at every highlight reel save he makes and will do so for the foreseeable future.

It isn't the explosiveness really except for the groin issues, but those have been pretty common for the profession since forever.

Issue is the hips and knees and the general grind. He needs to manage his practice time very strictly. Unless he's found a way around it physically I would also prefer he substitute literally any other move for the RVH. It's over-used and predictable nowadays anyways.

From the 1-2 periods I've been managing to catch since he's back, he has the same very demanding over-reliance on the RVH move. To me that's not sustainable considering his injury history.

He absolutely doesn't need RVH to be a great goalie, most of the great saves he makes are either elite tracking or the explosive ones (which are ironically not all that taxing since they don't happen all that often).

 

[VanJack]

You could argue that the single biggest reason the Canucks went from a Pacific Division championship to likely being on the outside looking in, was Demko's health.

In rationalizing this season, it was more important than all the other injuries; the turmoil in the room; the trading of Miller; all the other trades and lineup shuffling.

With him, they were a playoff team at the very least. Without him--well you can see where they are now. Unfortunately he's simply become too 'unreliable' because of his health. And I'd be surprised if that changes next season.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

It isn't the explosiveness really except for the groin issues, but those have been pretty common for the profession since forever.

To me its all connected.

When you lose mobility or power in your hipflexors adductors and or abductors or mobility in your hips the next joints in the chain, in this case the lumbar spine and knees get increased load.

Why I am mentioning his explosiveness is because from what I understand most other goalies dont move like this. Vasilevskiy as an example floats, does not move in jerky fast movements laterally like Demko does.

This explosive push that makes Demko elite, puts tremendous strain on the hips, groin and when you accumulate damage there like he has, potentially contributed to his very peculiar knee injury.

Those joints and muscles are not mean to generate explosive power in lateral direction.

Issue is the hips and knees and the general grind. He needs to manage his practice time very strictly. Unless he's found a way around it physically I would also prefer he substitute literally any other move for the RVH. It's over-used and predictable nowadays anyways.

From the 1-2 periods I've been managing to catch since he's back, he has the same very demanding over-reliance on the RVH move. To me that's not sustainable considering his injury history.

He absolutely doesn't need RVH to be a great goalie, most of the great saves he makes are either elite tracking or the explosive ones (which are ironically not all that taxing since they don't happen all that often).

Agree that the RVH is one of the main culprits.

They DEFINITELY need to have him on a counter in practice. Like a QB in the NFL who has issues with his throwing hand.

 

[ManVanFan]

Somebody should start a thread "How to keep Thatcher Demko healthy"