The Vancouver Canucks have lost starting goalie Thatcher Demko to injury in two consecutive years.
The Vezina Trophy finalist is one of the best netminders in the world when healthy. The issue is that his availability has been spotty over the last 24 months.
The Canucks started to lean on Demko a lot in the second half of last season and he eventually broke down with two major injuries, including one in Game 1 of the playoffs that took him out of the postseason completely. The 28-year-old started 35 games by January 31, tied for fourth among all goalies.
While the Canucks got good goaltending from Arturs Silovs in the playoffs, next year’s presume full-time backup, they would’ve preferred to have their All-Star in the crease when it mattered most.
This begs the question: do the Canucks need to put a strict limit on Demko’s starts next season?
It was predictably not a topic that Demko backed with full force when asked at his year-end press conference.
“That’s not really up to me,” replied the goalie when prodded on if he would support a reduced workload.
“I’ll sit down with Ian [Clark] and the rest of the coaching staff and evaluate the best way to move forward with that kind of thing. We’ll see.”
Silovs proved himself in the playoffs and looked more than ready to take on a significant number of games next season. What is the perfect split? Should Demko play more than 50 games?
Sergei Bobrovsky started a whopping 58 regular season games for the Florida Panthers last season and nearly won his team the Stanley Cup Final by himself, although his performance did drop in the last round, perhaps partially due to fatigue.
Maybe aiming for closer to 50 starts rather than 60 will help Demko be available and at his best when the season is on the line.
No magic number will help the Canucks get the most from Demko while ensuring he stays healthy. It’s an ongoing process between the player, coaching staff, and training staff, just as the goalie mentioned in his exit interview.
With the bar having been raised in Vancouver, making the playoffs will no longer be considered a massive success. They need Demko to go deep in the run, and if putting a strict workload restriction is what it takes, that may be what’s needed, even if it’s not a popular decision with the player himself.