Thatcher Demko Under Intense Pressure After Latest Report Exposes the Vancouver Canucks

Heading into the 2025-26 season, there weren't many that thought the Vancouver Canucks would have a chance to make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which was exactly the same scenario before the 2023-24 campaign, before the club went on to win the Pacific Division.

Now, the Canucks' odds to win the Pacific Division are quite slim, so it's hard to envision that happening this time around, but if the club wants to achieve their goal of making it to the postseason, they're going to need big bounce backs from several key players including forward Elias Pettersson and goaltender Thatcher Demko, the latter of whom has dealt with numerous injuries over the last 18 months.

During a recent appearance on Sekeres and Price, Jeff Paterson of Rink Wide: Vancouver said that he believes Thatcher Demko is essentially the Canucks' X factor this season and that how well he performs will dictate where the team could finish in April.

Thatcher Demko has shown in the past that he can be one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League, as Paterson eluded to - his Vezina form, when he was a runner-up for the award following a 2023-24 campaign where he had a 35-14-2 record along with a 2.45 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and five shutouts.

The San Diego, California native is certainly capable of playing up to that level, as he's shown very early on in the 2025-26 season, making 34 saves in Saturday's loss to Edmonton, but the Canucks still need to be a bit careful with the netminder and manage his workload a bit, perhaps keeping him around the 45 game mark, with Kevin Lankinen - who they committed $22.5 million over five years to - taking on a bigger role than the average backup.

If Thatcher Demko can play like he did two seasons ago, then there's no reason why the Vancouver Canucks can't be a playoff team and possibly even a top-three club in the Pacific Division when all is said and done.