Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko breaks silence on drama surrounding J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko returned as the backup after missing two games due to injury.

But in conversation with Sportsnet's Ian McIntyre, Demko says after such a long process rehabbing the knee injury that kept him out until early December, dealing with the back spasms that pushed him out recently feels like nothing.

Demko's season so far, even beyond injuries, has been up to the high standard he has set for himself, but the 29-year-old says he expected some rust.

He says coming back from such a serious injury is new territory for him, but he's confident that he's going to find his A-game again.

"This is something I haven't really done before. It's a new path, a new challenge, I think. In some ways it's difficult to kind of put into words... It feels like all the pieces are there. I'm ready to kind of get back to how I was last year. I don't have a doubt that I'll be able to do that."

Demko is 2-1-3 with an .881 save percentage since returning from injury in December, last season he posted a .918 save percentage.

Thatcher Demko downplays rift

Speaking to McIntyre, Demko also addressed the noise around the Canucks and more specifically, Elias Pettersson and J.T Miller. 

Trade rumors continue to swirl, and five teams could make a move for Pettersson. Although, the price could be quite high.

The goaltender said he wanted to "tread lightly" but that he considered the issues to be less about what is supposedly happening in the Canucks dressing room, and more about the fact that the team is underachieving.

"People probably wouldn't be talking about all the — quote, unquote — issues in the room if we were winning. So really, it's a winning and losing issue, not an issue of what's going on in the room."

If that's the case, Demko getting his game back to where it was last season would go a long way to quieting the chatter.