Demko Update: The sky is falling upon the Canucks

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Felip Gosselin
February 17, 2023 (9:19)

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The Canucks are once again in bad shape since Thatcher Demko had a setback yesterday at practice. He was meant to back up on Saturday and it seems that Arturs Silovs will remain a bit longer with the team.

Jeff Paterson granted us a video showing Thatcher Demko shaking off his right leg and it's not announcing good news since the netminder left the practice only 20 minutes into it.

Elliotte Friedman addressed the situation in his latest 32 Thoughts podcast along with Jeff Marek. He confirmed that the netminder had a setback and that things weren't trending in the right direction:

"Don't think we're going to know the outcome for a few days but he tweaked something at practice. Everyone is being careful not to jump to conclusions but it is a setback. Everyone is hoping it's not the worst-case scenario but nobody seems to know yet."

The idea has been discussed amongst analysts to completely shut the netminder for the remainder of the season to ensure there a no setbacks and that he's ready to go for 2023-2024. Shutting down Demko may be the team's ideal move if he's not yet at 100%, it would open the possibility of putting him on LTIR and therefore granting the Canucks more cap space heading into a deadline where it's highly valued.

Surely, with an injury only two weeks from the deadline, those of you who were hoping for Demko to be traded will not be pleased. Though it does bring the Canucks closer to Connor Bedard.