It was a frustrating 2024-25 season for Thatcher Demko, and he&#8217;ll tell you as much. In fact, he did, at multiple points.
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But as you know by now, the story of Demko&#8217;s 2024-25 season doesn&#8217;t actually start in 2024-25. Instead, it starts during the first game of the Canucks&#8217; first round playoff matchup against the Nashville Predators. After backstopping the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Canucks</a> to a Pacific Division title in a season good enough to make him the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy, Demko&#8217;s Stanley Cup Playoffs got cut remarkably short.
In the dying seconds of game one, with the Canucks on the brink of a 4-2 victory after three unanswered third period goals, Demko made a relatively routine move to his post, as he had countless times already that season. But for whatever reason, this one wasn&#8217;t like the others. A routine movement injured his popliteus &#8212; a muscle in the back of the knee &#8212; leading to an offseason filled with far more questions than answers.
Initially, after rest and recovery, Demko and the Canucks&#8217; medical staff thought they had the injury under control. So much so, that Demko declared that he would have been good to go had the Canucks made it to the third round of the playoffs. He was skating and practicing seemingly without issue during the Canucks&#8217; second-round series against Edmonton, after all.
In the offseason, however, <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-speaks-rare-injury">Demko suffered a setback &#8212; and not a small one</a>. Demko spent the rest of his offseason looking for answers for an injury that he described as &#8220;rare and unique&#8221; when he spoke about it at training camp. The result was Demko&#8217;s season not getting started until December &#8212; nearly eight months since he suffered the initial injury.
As expected, there was rust for Demko to shake off. And just as there were flashes of brilliance &#8212; his 30 save performance against the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-1 Canucks win comes to mind &#8212; more injuries arose. Demko exited halfway through the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-exits-second-period-seattle-kraken">Canucks&#8217; January 2nd game against the Seattle Kraken with back spasms</a>, less than a full month since returning from the knee injury he worked so hard to battle back from.
That injury didn&#8217;t keep Demko off for long, but again, there was rust to shake off upon returning, and the result was an .868 save percentage through eight games in January. Demko kicked off his month of February with three stellar games. Well, two and a half.
After a 25 save shutout against the Avs followed by a 33 saves on 34 shots effort vs. San Jose, Demko left the Canucks&#8217; <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-exits-injury-vs-toronto-maple-leafs-not-return">February 8th game against the Leafs with another injury</a>. This one, believed to be a groin injury, kept Demko out until the end of March. He returned and played six games before the Canucks&#8217; season came to a close.
So while there were flashes of brilliance in Demko&#8217;s 2024-25 season, it will be remembered first and foremost for being impacted by three separate injuries.
Which is why it might surprise you to be reminded that the idea of signing a contract extension was thrown out by both Demko and the Canucks before everyone went their separate ways for the summer.
<blockquote>Could Demko sign an extension? </blockquote>
Now, this is our yearly lookback series, not our 2025-26 season preview series, so we&#8217;ll refrain from looking too far down the line. But it is fair to bring up the idea of Demko signing an extension today because that was a topic during both Demko and President Jim Rutherford&#8217;s exit availabilities.
Demko made it clear he wanted to <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/always-wanted-be-vancouver-canuck-thatcher-demko-says-wants-extend-vancouver">remain in Vancouver and would be open to signing an extension</a> when he becomes eligible on July 1st. Of course, it&#8217;s more complicated and takes more than a player in Demko&#8217;s position saying he &#8220;wants to be here&#8221; for an extension to get done. Rutherford feels well-versed to at least have those conversations with his All-Star goaltender this summer. Rutherford recalled his trade for Gary Roberts back in the late 90s when he was the GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, where Rutherford says he traded for Roberts while other GMs were too worried about the health risk. That doesn&#8217;t seem to be much of a sticking point for Rutherford.
“There’s risk on both sides if there’s an extension,” Rutherford said of talking with Demko&#8217;s camp this summer. “The thing I really feel comfortable with is, leading up to him returning to play, he had a different approach to his training, which was more a preventive training for injuries… I like what he’s found here and what he’s done. He’s 100 percent healthy now and in a great frame of mind. We would like to extend him. It’s going to be a matter of how much risk is the team willing to take and how much risk is he willing to take as to the term of that contract.”
Here, Rutherford hits the nail on the head. There will be risk for both sides, whether an extension is signed or not, making this one very unique.
If Demko doesn&#8217;t sign an extension, he runs the risk of having another injury-riddled season and effectively tanking his value to &#8220;show me you can stay healthy for just one season&#8221; deal levels as he approaches unrestricted free agency in 2026. In the scenario of not signing an extension, the &#8220;risk&#8221; there for the Canucks is that Demko stays healthy, turns in another Vezina-calibre season, and prices himself in the upper echelon of goaltenders, thus likely pricing himself out of Vancouver.
If Demko does sign an extension, and continues to suffer multiple injuries every season, he all of a sudden becomes a major speed bump in the Canucks&#8217; plans. That, of course, is the risk the club would be running by signing Demko to an extension after a season in which he played in just 23 games with multiple stints on the IR. Here, the &#8220;risk&#8221; for Demko is that he signs a contract extension, gets himself guaranteed money, and turns in a healthy, Vezina-calibre season, potentially leaving millions of dollars on the table because he signed now instead of after that kind of season.
As a result, it&#8217;s going to be interesting to see how far both sides are going to be willing to budge when they get to the negotiating table after July 1st hits.
Can they meet somewhere in the middle where they are both comfortable with the risk they&#8217;re taking on? That will be the key question.
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Thatcher Demko goaltender Vancouver Canucks on ice

It was a frustrating 2024-25 season for Thatcher Demko, and he'll tell you as much. In fact, he did, at multiple points.
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But as you know by now, the story of Demko's 2024-25 season doesn't actually start in 2024-25. Instead, it starts during the first game of the Canucks' first round playoff matchup against the Nashville Predators. After backstopping the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Canucks</a> to a Pacific Division title in a season good enough to make him the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy, Demko's Stanley Cup Playoffs got cut remarkably short.

In the dying seconds of game one, with the Canucks on the brink of a 4-2 victory after three unanswered third period goals, Demko made a relatively routine move to his post, as he had countless times already that season. But for whatever reason, this one wasn't like the others. A routine movement injured his popliteus -- a muscle in the back of the knee -- leading to an offseason filled with far more questions than answers.

Initially, after rest and recovery, Demko and the Canucks' medical staff thought they had the injury under control. So much so, that Demko declared that he would have been good to go had the Canucks made it to the third round of the playoffs. He was skating and practicing seemingly without issue during the Canucks' second-round series against Edmonton, after all.

In the offseason, however, <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-speaks-rare-injury">Demko suffered a setback -- and not a small one</a>. Demko spent the rest of his offseason looking for answers for an injury that he described as "rare and unique" when he spoke about it at training camp. The result was Demko's season not getting started until December -- nearly eight months since he suffered the initial injury.

As expected, there was rust for Demko to shake off. And just as there were flashes of brilliance -- his 30 save performance against the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-1 Canucks win comes to mind -- more injuries arose. Demko exited halfway through the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-exits-second-period-seattle-kraken">Canucks' January 2nd game against the Seattle Kraken with back spasms</a>, less than a full month since returning from the knee injury he worked so hard to battle back from.

That injury didn't keep Demko off for long, but again, there was rust to shake off upon returning, and the result was an .868 save percentage through eight games in January. Demko kicked off his month of February with three stellar games. Well, two and a half.

After a 25 save shutout against the Avs followed by a 33 saves on 34 shots effort vs. San Jose, Demko left the Canucks' <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-exits-injury-vs-toronto-maple-leafs-not-return">February 8th game against the Leafs with another injury</a>. This one, believed to be a groin injury, kept Demko out until the end of March. He returned and played six games before the Canucks' season came to a close.

So while there were flashes of brilliance in Demko's 2024-25 season, it will be remembered first and foremost for being impacted by three separate injuries.

Which is why it might surprise you to be reminded that the idea of signing a contract extension was thrown out by both Demko and the Canucks before everyone went their separate ways for the summer.
<blockquote>Could Demko sign an extension? </blockquote>
Now, this is our yearly lookback series, not our 2025-26 season preview series, so we'll refrain from looking too far down the line. But it is fair to bring up the idea of Demko signing an extension today because that was a topic during both Demko and President Jim Rutherford's exit availabilities.

Demko made it clear he wanted to <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/always-wanted-be-vancouver-canuck-thatcher-demko-says-wants-extend-vancouver">remain in Vancouver and would be open to signing an extension</a> when he becomes eligible on July 1st. Of course, it's more complicated and takes more than a player in Demko's position saying he "wants to be here" for an extension to get done. Rutherford feels well-versed to at least have those conversations with his All-Star goaltender this summer. Rutherford recalled his trade for Gary Roberts back in the late 90s when he was the GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, where Rutherford says he traded for Roberts while other GMs were too worried about the health risk. That doesn't seem to be much of a sticking point for Rutherford.

“There’s risk on both sides if there’s an extension,” Rutherford said of talking with Demko's camp this summer. “The thing I really feel comfortable with is, leading up to him returning to play, he had a different approach to his training, which was more a preventive training for injuries… I like what he’s found here and what he’s done. He’s 100 percent healthy now and in a great frame of mind. We would like to extend him. It’s going to be a matter of how much risk is the team willing to take and how much risk is he willing to take as to the term of that contract.”

Here, Rutherford hits the nail on the head. There will be risk for both sides, whether an extension is signed or not, making this one very unique.

If Demko doesn't sign an extension, he runs the risk of having another injury-riddled season and effectively tanking his value to "show me you can stay healthy for just one season" deal levels as he approaches unrestricted free agency in 2026. In the scenario of not signing an extension, the "risk" there for the Canucks is that Demko stays healthy, turns in another Vezina-calibre season, and prices himself in the upper echelon of goaltenders, thus likely pricing himself out of Vancouver.

If Demko does sign an extension, and continues to suffer multiple injuries every season, he all of a sudden becomes a major speed bump in the Canucks' plans. That, of course, is the risk the club would be running by signing Demko to an extension after a season in which he played in just 23 games with multiple stints on the IR. Here, the "risk" for Demko is that he signs a contract extension, gets himself guaranteed money, and turns in a healthy, Vezina-calibre season, potentially leaving millions of dollars on the table because he signed now instead of after that kind of season.

As a result, it's going to be interesting to see how far both sides are going to be willing to budge when they get to the negotiating table after July 1st hits.

Can they meet somewhere in the middle where they are both comfortable with the risk they're taking on? That will be the key question.

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