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While Thatcher Demko continues to make progress in his return from injury, it could still be a while before he’s starting games for the Vancouver Canucks.
The team’s head coach provided an update on the star goalie today before the team travels to Edmonton to prepare for Game 6.
“That would be a stretch,” responded Tocchet when asked if Demko could play this weekend. “I’m not trying to hide anything. He has been taking shots and doing a lot of good things.”
The way Tocchet spoke it sounded as if there was almost no chance the goalie would return during the second round, even if the series did stretch to seven games.
There has been a lot of optimism around the goalie’s recovery after Tocchet gave an encouraging update where he said Demko has “improved immensely.”
Still, the 28-year-old has yet to fully participate in a full practice. He’s been seen on the ice but has not been taking part in live drills.
Tocchet made it clear today that he can’t even begin to consider starting Demko until the goalie goes through a full practice.
This knee injury was sustained in Game 1 of the first round on April 21, which means that we are approaching one full month of recovery time. He was originally deemed “week-to-week,” and it’s now been almost four weeks.
The Canucks are just one game away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Arturs Silovs has been excellent in relief and has helped put the team in this excellent position.
The Latvian goalie has kept the Canucks’ season alive and made Demko’s return a possibility. With a 2.62 goals-against-average and a .907% save percentage in the postseason, there’s been no pressure to rush Demko back early.