Since training camp opened without him two months and one day ago, the omnipresent question stalking Thatcher Demko has been: When will the injured goalie play again for the Vancouver Canucks?
But the more important question all along has been: When Demko returns, how can he and the team ensure he is ready and durable enough to withstand the rest of the National Hockey League season.
Remember, Demko lasted all of two games last spring after returning from one knee injury before suffering another in Game 1 of the playoffs.
That troublesome injury, a torn popliteus muscle in his knee, was supposed to heal in a few weeks. But here was Demko on Wednesday, speaking to reporters for the first time since training camp, still working towards his return to the lineup 213 days since his injury occurred.
“I’m a day-to-day guy,” last season’s Vezina Trophy runner-up said after practising with teammates at the University of British Columbia. “I think you have to be. Admittedly through the process, I slipped into the, you know, future-seeking mindset. And it never really ended up too well for me. So I’m just sticking with it day by day. I definitely know that I’ll be playing here. I can’t give you a timeline yet, but I’ll definitely be back. I’m just enjoying being where I’m at today and keep making progress tomorrow.”
Demko fully practised on Wednesday, albeit as the Canucks’ third goalie behind Kevin Lankinen and Arturs Silovs, which was great. He will join the team on a six-game road trip that opens Saturday in Ottawa. More good news. Maybe Demko will play on this trip, maybe he won’t. But will he be back for good once he does?
“Admittedly, I feel great right now,” he said. “To your point, I can’t feel good and go back into game action and then have a setback two weeks into playing. I’ve got to put this thing (his knee) through hell and know that I can kind of sustain that, and withstand just the pressures of being in the NHL every day. Playing games, waking up, practising, travelling, doing all this stuff, I need to make sure that I’m ready for the long haul and then do everything that I can to make sure that I am.
“I still have a little bit of work to do, but I think the last stretch of (the recovery) is going to be just that capacity-build and making sure that I can withstand the schedule of the NHL.”
Recovery from any major injury is always more than just physical.
This particular muscle injury, which Demko said in September was unprecedented in the NHL as far as he knew, has tested him as much mentally as physically.
Adding to the stress test are the emotions bubbling around the Canucks, who have demonstrated on-ice resilience during their uneven start to their season but on Tuesday were winded by the news that J.T. Miller, their emotional leader, was taking an indefinite leave for personal reasons.
The Canucks were already missing 40-goal scorer Brock Boeser due to a concussion and, of course, their star goalie.
“You want to be out there for your teammates,” Demko said. “I mean, I’m not really doing this for me. I think that’s what the basis of playing sports is — trying to be there for other people and help your team succeed and do whatever it takes to do that. It’s hard to compartmentalize that and stay focused on my task (of getting healthy) 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. But my teammates have been great, my coaching staff has been great with just not really putting pressure on me. I think they know that I probably do that enough on my own, and so they’ve been all very supportive and that’s been huge through this process.”
Everyone has patiently waited for that dim light at the end of the tunnel to grow brighter. It’s still hard to gauge the strength of the headlight and the length of the tunnel, but Demko, as coach Rick Tocchet said, is obviously a lot closer to playing than he was two months ago.
“I know Dems. . . hates these days when we ask how he’s doing,” defenceman Tyler Myers said. “I’ve been asking him every day for a while, so I would get sick of it. But he seems to be doing well. I know he’s been happy with how he’s been progressing. And if it’s one week or another two months, whenever he’s ready, we’ll be excited to have him back. I’m glad to see it’s going the way he likes right now.”
Asked if he is hopeful that Demko could play before the upcoming roadie ends Dec. 3 in Minnesota, Tocchet said: “Well, I mean, I’m always hopeful. If he’s putting these kind of practices together, you’re really. . . you feel a lot more comfortable.”
Without case history to follow for hockey players, Demko said he and his medical team had to use different “modalities” to restore function.
“It wasn’t an adaptation of my style of play, and I knew it wouldn’t be,” he said. “Shortly after Penticton (and training camp), we really nailed down what the issue was specifically, which was nice to finally kind of understand what was going on. That gave us a clear picture of different options that we had moving forward and 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 obviously been a long road, so it’s nice to be back with the guys a little bit. Definitely a little more energy, a little pep in my step coming back and being out with those guys (for practices). Still a lot of work to do, I think. But I feel really good. It’s the best I’ve felt, obviously, in seven or eight months. I finally have a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel, for sure, and have a lot of direction in what we’re trying to accomplish. We’ve gotten some huge progress and big jumps the last, probably, two, three, four weeks. So we’re moving in the right direction.”
ICE CHIPS — Boeser, who returned to the ice Tuesday morning for the first time since his injury two weeks ago, did not skate on Wednesday. But Tocchet expects the winger to join the team on the road as his recovery continues. . . Defenceman Filip Hronek was given a “maintenance” day, and winger Conor Garland had Wednesday off after his wife, Meghan, delivered the couple’s first child. Tocchet said the Garlands welcomed a new son, Quinton, named after the captain — from the 1970s movie “Jaws” and not Canucks captain Quinn Hughes. Yes, Conor Garland really, really loves sharks. . . The Canucks travel Thursday and will practise in Ottawa on Friday.