Another injury for Thatcher Demko leaves more questions for Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks and Thatcher Demko just can’t seem to stay healthy these days. Still early in the 2025-26 NHL season, the Canucks have been plagued with injuries, headlined by Demko’s often touch-and-go status with a conspicuous knee injury. 

Head coach Adam Foote and the organization held Demko out of games over the weekend due to “preventative maintenance,” before he returned to the crease on Monday, only to leave the game with an injury. 

While the Canucks said the injury was unrelated to previous issues, it could mean Demko misses even more time in Vancouver’s crease. 

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton, a former NHL goalie, broke down the concerns surrounding Demko. 

Yaremchuk:  Frank Seravalli tweeted yesterday that the early expectation is for Demko to miss 2-3 weeks with an injury, but Frank adds it’s unrelated to his previous knee injury and unrelated to why Demko took maintenance days last week. I think maybe some Canucks fans look at that and are happy that it’s not related to the other stuff, but for me, this pushes it to like a higher concern, because what do you mean He has two other things he’s dealing with, and now he’s hurt with an unrelated injury?

Hutton: You also have to think about how they’re feeling right now with the way Arturs Silovs in playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins right now I know they got forced into their hands signing Kevin Lankinen, but Lankinen is making $5 million a year, and I don’t think he’s a $5 million goalie.

With Demko, this is a big concern, because this is the guy where he is the difference maker when he is healthy and when he is, he can be one of the better goalies in the league. He’s in that handful of guys that can win you a Stanley Cup yet, but if you’re not healthy, what does it matter? It literally doesn’t matter if you can’t stay healthy. 

I would love to see him  back and playing, but if it’s another injury, it gets to the point where you question what this guy is doing away from the rink, body wise, because he’s obviously not sustainable. How do you build a team around it? I think at some point they got to move off him. 

You can catch the full Demko conversion and the rest of Tuesday’s episode here…