The Vancouver Canucks head into the 2026/27 regular season without any hopes for major success, but with the team into their latest rebuild, there’s going to be plenty to take away from the season with their youth.
One place the organization don’t have much promising youth in is their goaltending, as the team once again enter a new season sweating on the health of Thatcher Demko alongside another veteran in Kevin Lankinen. Unfortunately, the latest update on Demko isn’t a positive one, as the team are once again without clarity on his situation as they continually hope for success from the 30-year-old.
Canucks Have no Timeline on Thatcher Demko’s Return
Over the past two seasons, Demko has appeared in a total of just 43 games for the Canucks, and while there was hopes that he was getting back to full health, unfortunately, the veteran simply can’t catch a break.
After those injuries mounted, Demko had another hip surgery in January of 2026, and while it swiftly ended his 2025/26 campaign, he’s recently returned to on-ice activities, with the hope that he could once again be fully healthy for this team. Unfortunately, during an interview with Rick Dhaliwal, Daniel Sedin has now revealed that there’s no timeline for Demko’s current return, meaning that fans once again enter a season with uncertainty over their star goaltender.
He also mentioned no rush in naming a captain, also talked about Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium’s contract.
Complete Daniel Sedin interview on @DonnieandDhali and our You Tube channel.
When he was healthy a year ago, Demko showed potential again, posting a 2.85 GAA and an .897 save percentage across 20 games played, but as usual, he was unable to finish out a season due to injury, a theme throughout his career as the former second-round pick has dealt with injuries for years now.
What Will the Canucks Goaltending Look Like Without Demko?
Obviously, the reason Vancouver signed Kevin Lankinen to a long-term deal was the health concerns involving Demko, and over the past two years he’s played the bulk of the games as the teams starter, posting an .889 save percentage and a 3.12 GAA across 98 games played for the team.
Beyond that, there’s very little proven NHL talent in the organization, with just one other Canucks goaltender having NHL experience in Nikita Tolopilo, who appeared in 21 games for the team in 2025/26. In that time, the 26-year-old had a 3.61 GAA and an .881 save percentage, so while he’s not yet knocking the door down as a full-time NHL goaltender of the future, he’s showing enough to get given another opportunity if Demko does miss significant time.
Once training camp officially gets underway, we should hear more from the front office and the coaching staff on a potential timeline for Demko’s return, as it’s highly likely that he’ll push to play significant games once again in 2026/27, but as of right now, being active for the teams opening night matchup is not guaranteed.
Daniel Sedin Reveals Unfortunate Update on Canucks Thatcher Demko