To say there has been a lot of speculation about Thatcher Demko’s injury would be a considerable understatement. After playing the series opener against Nashville, Demko was ruled as out day-to-day and then week-to-week soon after, fueling plenty of theories about the nature of the injury. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the best way to qualify this injury is that it’s a unique one. The Canucks are hopeful that it’s not as bad as they initially feared and it might not be something that surgery can ultimately fix. Accordingly, they don’t have an idea of the true timeframe for a return other than he’s not going to be back within the next week or two.
Canucks Rumors
Pacific Notes: Boeser, Demko, Kraken
Harman Dayal of The Athletic tweeted that Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet downplayed Brock Boeser’s early exit from practice today. Boeser had left the ice after taking a shot up high on the wrist during a powerplay drill. Tocchet said that Boeser was fine as far as he knew and added that Boeser hadn’t said anything about a potential ailment.
The Canucks are already dealing with a significant injury with goaltender Thatcher Demko out of the lineup and can ill afford to lose more key pieces from their team. Boeser has just one assist through the first two games of round 1 but is coming off a career year having posted 40 goals and 33 assists in 81 regular season games.
In other Pacific Division notes:
- Speaking of Demko, the netminder travelled with the Canucks to Nashville (according to SportsNet’s Dan Murphy). Although he made the trip, there doesn’t appear to be any change to his status as he remains week-to-week. Patrick Johnston of Postmedia writes that his sources tell him that Demko wouldn’t be able to return from injury until the Conference Finals, while Donnie & Dhali of CHEK TV believe he could return late in round 2 if the Canucks can survive until then.
- The Seattle Kraken announced a new partnership today that will see their local broadcasts shift from ROOT Sports over to TEGNA-owned stations KONG as well as KING 5. KONG will broadcast all non-nationally televised Kraken games while KING 5 will simulcast 15 games as well. The deal effectively ends the Kraken’s relationship with ROOT Sports, who had broadcast Seattle games for their first three seasons. In addition to the new local television deal, the Kraken will also see all non-nationally televised games broadcast on Amazon Prime Video for people in Washington State, Oregon, and Alaska at no extra cost. Seattle becomes the first NHL team to strike a deal with Prime and could become a model for other franchises going forward.
Thatcher Demko To Miss Game 2, Potentially Out For Series
In a report coming from Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, Vancouver Canucks’ starting goaltender Thatcher Demko is set to miss Game 2 of the team’s First Round series against the Nashville Predators, and could potentially miss the rest of the series. For tonight’s game and possibly further, the Canucks will rely on Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs in the crease.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman quickly confirmed Seravalli’s report and indicated that Demko is out with an injury. Without any specifics to the injury, it could potentially be a re-aggravation of the lower-body injury that kept Demko out of Vancouver’s lineup from March 9th to April 16th.
In Demko’s absence towards the last month of the regular season, the Canucks produced a 7-5-2 record, earning a 2.86 goals against average and a .884 save percentage. In Sunday night’s game against the Predators, Demko played in all 60 minutes of game one, saving 20 of 22 shots on goal.
Now that DeSmith is the likely starter heading into Game 2, Vancouver will deploy a goalie that produced a 12-9-6 record this season over 27 starts, securing a 2.89 GAA and a .895 SV%. Much like Demko, DeSmith has limited playoff experience, as his only postseason appearance came two years ago with the Pittsburgh Penguins, earning an overtime win against the New York Rangers after stopping 48 of 51 shots.
Heading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks had the second-highest odds of being the last team left standing according to MoneyPuck. Unfortunately, without one of the top goaltenders in the league between the pipes, Vancouver’s odds have certainly lowered.
In a positive outlook for the Canucks, recent history is on their side, as both Conference Champions from last year’s playoffs started the postseason with different goalies than they started with, while the Colorado Avalanche had to utilize then-backup goalie Pavel Francouz in their pursuit of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. If the Canucks have any hopes of making a deep playoff run this postseason, the team in front will have their work cut out for them moving forward.
Canucks Prospect Lukas Jasek Signs Two-Year Deal With SHL's Modo
The Canucks still hold the exclusive signing rights of Czech winger Lukas Jasek, but he won’t be returning to the organization next season. He’s signed a two-year contract with Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (translated team release link).
Jasek, 26, was a sixth-round pick of the Canucks in 2015 and spent the following three seasons in the Czech Extraliga before signing his entry-level contract and joining their AHL affiliate, then the Utica Comets, in 2018. He played in parts of four seasons for the Comets, putting up overall decent numbers with 86 points (30 goals, 56 assists) and a +11 rating in 153 appearances, but didn’t get an NHL call-up during that time.
Jasek had 28 points in 49 games but couldn’t help them avoid relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan, but he’ll stay in the top tier of the Swedish system next season with Örnsköldsvik’s MoDo. The Canucks must sign him before July 1, 2025, and buy him out of the second year of his new deal with MoDo, or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.
- One of the Flames’ top defense prospects, Hunter Brzustewicz, will finish 2023-24 on an ATO with AHL Calgary, the minor-league club announced. Brzustewicz, 19, was a third-round pick of the Canucks last year but had his signing rights dealt to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade. He inked his entry-level deal back in March and, given his November birthday, will be eligible to suit up full-time with the Wranglers next season. He finished the year with 92 points in 67 games for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.
Canucks Recall Arturs Silovs
The Canucks have recalled netminder Arturs Silovs from AHL Abbotsford, per a team announcement. He’ll serve as the club’s emergency backup (EBUG) for tonight’s Game 1 of their first-round series against the Predators.
Unlike regular-season contests, there’s no designated amateur EBUG in the arena for postseason games. As such, teams are allowed to insert a third contracted netminder into the game if both their starter and backup leave with injuries, even if they were listed as a scratch on the roster report.
Silovs, 23, has spent most of the season on assignment to the minors. He’s had a strong campaign after backstopping Latvia to a bronze medal and being named the tournament’s best goaltender at the 2023 World Championship, recording a .907 SV%, 2.74 GAA and four shutouts in 34 games with Abbotsford.
The 2019 sixth-round pick saw some brief NHL action down the stretch with Thatcher Demko sidelined due to a lower-body injury. While he routinely backed up Casey DeSmith, who saw the majority of the starts in Demko’s absence, Silovs made four starts. His numbers weren’t impressive, logging a .881 SV% and 2.47 GAA, but those reflect some poor defensive efforts in front of him. He saved exactly as many goals as expected, per MoneyPuck, and Vancouver recorded a point in all four of his appearances (3-0-1).
Including five starts last season, Silovs has a .898 SV%, 2.62 GAA, and a 6-2-1 record in his brief NHL career. He won’t see any postseason action for the Canucks unless disaster strikes, but with DeSmith set to be a UFA this summer, Silovs will be in contention for a full-time backup job next season. He needs a new contract, too – his entry-level deal expires in a few months, and he’s set to be an RFA.
Canucks Sign Vasily Podkolzin To Extension
The Vancouver Canucks have signed forward Vasily Podkolzin to a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of $1MM. The 22-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level contract and currently carries a cap hit of $925K. The timing of the extension is interesting as Podkolzin hasn’t shown much offensively at the NHL level over the past two seasons after a solid rookie year back in 2021-22.
As a rookie, Podkolzin dressed in 79 games for the Canucks and posted 14 goals and 12 assists while he averaged nearly 13 minutes of ice time per game and showed flashes of the skill that made him the tenth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. However, the following season, Podkolzin’s offensive numbers fell off a cliff as he registered just four goals and three assists in 39 NHL games and was demoted to the AHL where he played 28 games and tallied seven goals and 11 assists.
This season has been more of the same offensively as Podkolzin has just two assists in 18 NHL games, however, he has been much more assertive physically and has shown more responsibility with the puck on his stick, leading to fewer turnovers.
The extension seems like a low-risk gamble by the Canucks to try and sign a player with a ton of potential to a low-cost deal that could pay huge dividends in the not-too-distant future. While Podkolzin hasn’t scored much in the NHL outside of his rookie season, he has solid underlying numbers and has other elements to his game to which he can contribute.
Vancouver Canucks Send Down Arturs Silovs
- Now that goaltender Thatcher Demko is preparing to return to the active roster, the Vancouver Canucks have sent down goalie Arturs Silovs to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Throughout his recall, Silovs only suited up in four games for the Canucks, and performed adequately in limited time. Over those four games, Silovs produced a 3-0-1 record, securing a .881 SV% which was largely brought down due to giving up four goals on 18 shots against the Arizona Coyotes.
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Thatcher Demko Returning To The Lineup Tomorrow
Vancouver Canucks play-by-play voice Brendan Batchelor is reporting that netminder Thatcher Demko will be returning to the Canucks lineup tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames. Demko has been out since March 9th when he left a game against the Winnipeg Jets with a knee injury. The 28-year-old has missed 14 games with the ailment during which Vancouver has gone 7-5-2.
Demko was in the midst of a career year when he was forced from the lineup due to injury. In 49 appearances this season, the native of San Diego, California has a .917 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.47. His 34-13-2 record is among the best in the league and his five shutouts have him tied for fourth in the NHL.
In Demko’s absence, career backup Casey DeSmith stepped up to fill the void but could not sustain a stretch of solid play as he posted just four wins in ten appearances since Demko went down. DeSmith started well as he gave up just 11 goals in his first five starts after Demko’s injury, but would go on to give up 17 goals in his four starts after that.
With Demko returning, the Canucks will be hoping he can pick up where he left off before the knee injury. The Canucks have two games left in the regular season to get Demko up to speed before the playoffs. Demko has only dressed in four NHL playoff games in his career and sports a sparkling 0.64 goals-against average and a .985 save percentage.
Filip Hronek Could Demand $8MM AAV On Next Contract
The Canucks have one of the better defensemen on expiring deals this summer in top-pairing threat Filip Hronek. He’s broken out alongside Quinn Hughes in his first full season in Vancouver and is under team control this summer as an RFA with arbitration rights. Speaking on the Sekeres and Price podcast today, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli thinks that Hronek is in a position to land an AAV in the $8MM range this summer after Vegas blue-liner Noah Hanifin signed a max-term extension with a $7.35MM cap hit last week. With the far superior Hughes locked in at $7.85MM through 2027, however, it’s nearly unfathomable that Canucks GM Patrik Allvin would dole out that kind of cash. If the 26-year-old’s camp holds firm in that ask, a one-year deal awarded via arbitration to walk him to unrestricted free agency in 2025 could be the outcome if Vancouver doesn’t trade his signing rights.
Blackhawks Recall Ethan Del Mastro
The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled defense prospect Ethan Del Mastro from the minor leagues (Twitter link). This is the first call-up of Del Mastro’s career, after playing through his rookie AHL season this year. He’s recorded seven goals and 37 points in 66 games with the Rockford IceHogs, leading the team’s defensemen in scoring.
The Hawks selected Del Mastro in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL Draft, selecting him with a pick acquired when Chicago sent Madison Bowey and a 2021 fifth-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks. Del Mastro returned to the OHL for each of the last two seasons, recording 100 points across 120 games. Scoring was never his forte – with Del Mastro’s draft-year hype instead coming from his stout defense – though his 59 points in 52 OHL games last season and his strong minor league scoring this year are certainly starting to flip that narrative.
Del Mastro, 21, will join a very talented, and very young, Chicago blue-line that has also featured Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, Isaak Phillips, Louis Crevier, and Wyatt Kaiser – all U22 defensemen. The latter three names are currently on the Rockford roster, and the former two likely won’t face competition from Del Mastro. He’ll instead challenge veteran fill-ins like Jarred Tinordi or Jaycob Megna. Neither veteran has recorded a goal this season – instead boasting nine assists and two assists respectively.