Vancouver Canucks’ Thatcher Demko could return this weekend

Thatcher Demko is starting!

Maybe on Sunday. But soon. Probably.

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At the end of the Vancouver Canucks practice Thursday at Rogers Arena, even Demko didn’t know when Thatcher Demko would be starting — or just backing up Kevin Lankinen.

But they were the only goalies on the ice, which means Demko could be watching Lankinen from the Canucks’ bench as soon as Friday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets that opens a six-game homestand for Vancouver.

Demko’s ownership of one net for practice, while Arturs Silovs was relegated to third-string status with some pre-practice work under goalie coach Marko Torenius, is one of the final steps on Demko’s long road back from a knee injury.

The road was longer than the Pan-American Highway.

Friday was Day 228 of Demko’s recovery from a torn popliteus muscle in his knee, an injury that was expected initially to keep him out about four weeks but proved to be unprecedented among National Hockey League goalies.

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet will finally have a decision to make.

“I’ll have to talk to Toc today,” Demko said when asked about his status. “Like I said, it’s been pretty day to day, which is great. We’re kind of out of that week-to-week window now, so it’s been a lot of communication with Marko and Toc. I think I’m at a point now where I could potentially have a discussion with him and be available to back up or what have you, you know, between now and probably the next three games or so. I think that’s kind of the window we’re looking at.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Canucks on Sunday, followed two days later by the St. Louis Blues. The homestand runs until the Colorado Avalanche visit Vancouver on Dec. 16.

Demko participated in each morning skate and practice on the Canucks’ six-game road trip that ended Tuesday in Minnesota, and has been fully practising for about three weeks. 

During his first media availability since training camp, on Nov. 20, Demko told reporters: “I’ve got to put this thing 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.”

Well, the knee has been to hell and back and withstood the rigors of the journey.

Lankinen has made the trip for Demko and the Canucks easier.

Having your star goalie, last season’s Vezina Trophy runner-up, miss the first two months of the regular season was a potential disaster for the Canucks. Lankinen, who signed during training camp and took the interim starter job away from Silovs in the season’s first week, saved the Canucks as he has saved most things during his remarkable 18-game run (and counting) as Tocchet’s first choice.

One of Lankinen’s rewards was Wednesday’s call by Team Finland to play in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February. Unable to audition, Demko was left off Team USA, for which he would have been a semi-automatic choice last spring.

But Lankinen’s more significant accomplishment was guaranteeing himself a role with the Canucks beyond Demko’s return.

Before Demko suffered his first knee injury last March — apparently unrelated to the playoff injury — he had started 12 of 14 games, and 49 of 66 in the Canucks’ season.

Demko could play like Dominik Hasek upon his return and won’t see that workload again.

“First of all, I want to give Lanks all the credit in the world,” Demko said. “I mean, he’s been unbelievable this year. It’s been really fun to get to know him and just be able to watch him play. It’s a challenging position that he was put in, coming into a new team and being able to manage the workload that he’s been given. You know, for me, I’m managing my expectations a little bit. I think it’d be foolish to say that I’m going to come back and be, you know, perfectly sharp and feel like I have my A-game in Game 1.

“Obviously, that takes a little bit of time, just seeing game reps and things is kind of a last step of fully doing the rehab. So I’m not really putting an expectation on that. The way Lanks has played kind of takes a little bit of pressure off of myself to come in and not feel like I have to save the world.”

Tocchet said Friday that Lankinen will start against Columbus and everything beyond that is to be determined.

“It’s a good problem to have, you know?” he said. “We’ve got a lot of games. There’s going to be lots of time for. . . whoever is in the net. But I don’t even think of that right now. I know we play Columbus; that’s all I think about. He’s playing, and we’ll worry about that. . . when that happens.”

At this point, Demko’s return to the lineup is largely his call.

“He knows his body,” Tocchet explained. “His work ethic is next to none that I’ve ever coached. So he has latitude from me. Some guys you have to push; I don’t think you push him. Trust me, he wants to play. So when he comes to me and he’s ready, you know he’s ready. That’s the way I approach it with Thatcher.”

Not only has Lankinen handled the pressure of filling in for Demko, and been the Canucks’ best player not named Quinn Hughes, but the 29-year-old career backup has been playing for his NHL future, too. 

Lankinen bet on himself, waiting in free agency for the right opportunity and accepting a one-year, $875,000 contract in Vancouver after choosing not to re-sign with the Nashville Predators because he believed he could do better than back up Juuse Saros.

“Having the opportunity to come here, I think I was just going day by day,” Lankinen said Friday. “Obviously not knowing what Demmer had. . . I’ve been just living one day at a time and taking every opportunity I’ve been given and trying to just prove that I’m worth the job and worth more starts here. 

“It’s obviously good to see a teammate coming back, and I know it’s been a long road for him. And hopefully he’ll feel good because he’s a big part of the team, and I’m sure he will help us win. But at the same time, I’m just only focusing on my own job and making sure that I’m ready to go whenever they need me to.”

The Canucks will need Lankinen and Demko for the rest of the season.

ICE CHIPS – Tocchet confirmed that J.T. Miller has been skating during his leave of absence from the Canucks . . . Hughes was ordered to take a day off on Thursday . . . Defenceman Derek Forbort practiced in a non-contact jersey for the first time since injuring his lower leg in Anaheim on Nov. 5.