There may be no clearer sign of Thatcher Demko getting closer to returning to game action than the goaltender skating hard at the end of practice with the rest of his Vancouver Canucks teammates in a bag skate.
It’s all part of the process for Demko, as the final step before getting back into NHL games is to push himself as hard as possible.
“I can't feel good and go back into game action and then have a setback two weeks into playing,” said Demko after practice on Wednesday. “I’ve gotta put this thing through hell and know that I can kind of sustain that and withstand the pressures of being in the NHL every day and playing games, waking up, practicing, traveling, doing all this stuff.
“I need to make sure that I'm ready for the long haul…I still have a little bit of work to do, but I think the last stretch of it is going to be just that capacity build and making sure that I can withstand the schedule of the NHL.”
Demko hasn’t played since Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and it’s been a long, strange trip figuring out exactly what is wrong. That’s because his injury was an unusual one for any athlete in any sport, let alone a goaltender in hockey: an injury to the popliteus muscle inside of the knee, which is responsible for unlocking the knee joint when the leg is extended and rotating the tibia on the femur.
Since so few athletes have experienced a similar injury, figuring out a treatment plan was a difficult task for Demko and his doctors and made it impossible to set a timeline for his return. Even heading into training camp, a lot was still up in the air.
“Shortly after Penticton, we really nailed down what the issue was specifically,” said Demko, “which was nice to finally kind of understand what was going on, and that gave us a clear picture of different options that we had moving forward. It was kind of just trial and error at that point and we ended up finding something that worked really well for me.”
"It's the best I've felt in 7-8 months"
In recent weeks, Demko has been on the ice more and more and has started to join his teammates at some practices. Taking the bag skate with the rest of the team was just another step along the way.
“It’s nice to be back with the guys a little bit,” said Demko. “Definitely a little more energy, a little pep in my step coming back and being out with those guys.”
“It’s the best I’ve felt in 7-8 months,” he added. “Finally having a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel…We’ve gotten some huge progress and big jumps the last, probably, 2-4 weeks. We’re moving in the right direction for sure.”
Demko still wouldn’t give a timeline for his return. After all, a lot depends on how his knee responds to how hard he pushes himself in the coming days. Head coach Rick Tocchet, however, remains hopeful that he’ll return soon.
“I don't know when he's gonna play, the timeline, but obviously it's a lot closer than it was two months ago, let's put it that way,” said Tocchet. “I'm always hopeful. I mean, if he's putting these kinds of practices together, you really feel a lot more comfortable.”
Health is one thing, of course, but how well Demko can perform is another.
“That's the stages of rehab,” said Demko. “You work your way back into some goalie skates and I'm seeing pucks from the twins and Sergei [Gonchar] was out there a little bit with me. And then I come out here [to practice], and things are moving really quick compared to those guys.
“So, it's another step up and I have to get acclimated at this level, and then obviously the game is a different beast. I know that it's not going to be perfect my first or second game back. I have to be able to manage my expectations in that regard.”
"I'm not really doing this for me"
Demko is well aware how much he is needed out on the ice. As good as Kevin Lankinen has played early in the season, the workload of being the starter seemed to get to him in recent games. Meanwhile, Arturs Silovs struggled early but has put in some strong performances, but still nowhere near the caliber of a Vezina finalist like Demko.
“You want to be out there for your teammates,” said Demko. “I mean, I'm not really doing this for me. I think that's what the basis of playing sports is, you know, trying to be there for other people and help your team succeed and doing whatever it takes to do that.
“It's hard to compartmentalize that and stay focused on my task and not get too judgmental internally. You try not to guilt yourself into tricking yourself that you're maybe farther along, just so you can get back sooner.”
Fortunately, Demko said that his teammates and the coaching staff have been nothing but supportive and haven’t applied any pressure to push him to return sooner. That’s made the recovery process a lot less stressful, especially since he puts enough pressure on himself already.
If there’s one good thing that’s come out of this entire process, he’s now the NHL’s foremost expert on the popliteus muscle.
“I’ve gotten pretty educated anatomically. I think it's important to and, obviously, through this process, I've been forced to,” said Demko. “Just know that I know everything about the popliteus and all the stuff that goes into it at this point.”
