Demko makes season debut vs. Blues

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko made his season debut Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues.

Demko, who turned 29 on Sunday, hadn't played since Game 1 of the first round in last season's playoffs.

The 2023-24 Vezina Trophy runner-up dressed as the backup to Kevin Lankinen in a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday and in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.

Tocchet insisted Sunday that this was all part of a plan.

"He's ready to go. We wouldn't put him in as a backup (if he wasn't ready)," the bench boss said, per Postmedia's Ben Kuzma. "We kind of had this planned a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to stick with it. Demmer has a big voice in this, and you come up with a plan."

Tocchet added that Sunday's 1 p.m. PT puck drop in Vancouver may have influenced the decision not to start him for that game, saying, "You like to get the guy in his morning routine with a skate."

Demko joined Vancouver on its six-game road trip in late November and early December, saying at the time he saw a "light at the end of the tunnel" in terms of his recovery.

He was dealing with a mysterious knee injury that kept him out for much longer than expected. The American netminder said in September he was fully confident he could get back to 100% but acknowledged his recovery was extending well beyond the original plan.

He excelled in the last campaign, going 35-14-2 with a .918 save percentage and five shutouts in 51 games. Demko lost out to the Winnipeg Jets' Connor Hellebuyck for the Vezina, garnering 70 voting points compared to the winner's 158.

Demko has played parts of seven seasons with the Canucks, who drafted him 36th overall in 2014.

Lankinen performed admirably in Demko's absence, going 13-4-3 with a .908 save percentage and a pair of shutouts in 20 games. Arturs Silovs, who took the reins during the playoffs, has gone 1-4-0 with an .857 clip across seven contests this season.