In the fifth and final piece in our five-part feature on attainable milestones for key Canucks next season, we look at Thatcher Demko and his place in franchise history:
Thatcher Demko
It’s remarkable how similar Thatcher Demko’s individual statistics are to the man he replaced as Vancouver Canucks starter Jacob Markstrom. In parts of seven National Hockey League seasons, Demko has appeared in 219 games compared to Markstrom who suited up on 229 occasions as a Canuck. Demko has a 2.79 GAA for his career while Markstrom posted a 2.73 GAA in his time in Vancouver. And their save percentages as Canucks differ by a tenth of a percent with Demko at 91.2% while Markstrom was at 91.3%.
But there are differences between the two, as well. Demko took the torch from Markstrom in the Canucks crease after a number of dismal seasons for the organization. As a result, the incumbent has posted 116 career victories compared to his predecessor who won 99 times.
With 10 appearances early next season, Demko will match Markstrom and from there only three goalies will have played more games in a Canucks uniform in franchise history. Demko will have a ways to go to catch Richard Brodeur for third on the list. King Richard suited up 377 times as a Canuck through the 1980s. Beyond Brodeur, it’s Kirk McLean at 448 and Roberto Luongo at 516.
While Demko trails Broduer by a wide margin in games played in Vancouver, he doesn’t have far to go to catch him for third spot in career victories as a Canuck. The San Diego native needs just 10 wins to equal the 126 Brodeur delivered in his eight seasons in the organization.
Thatcher Demko goes post to post and makes an incredible save! #Canucks | #Preds
️: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/RGAzZfmrZ2— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) April 22, 2024
Throughout his career, Demko has been busy in his time between the pipes. He has already faced the fifth most shots in franchise history at 6768 and in the first month of the season will move past Markstrom into fourth in that category. Accordingly, he’ll also nudge past Markstrom into fourth in saves made as a Canuck goalie.
Demko begins the 2024-25 season sitting seventh all time in shutouts with eight in his career – five of them coming last season alone. He is one behind Cory Schneider and two back of Ryan Miller. If Demko posts four shutouts next season, he would slide past Gary Smith (11) into fourth all-time in franchise history behind Dan Cloutier (14), Kirk McLean (20) and Roberto Luongo (38).
One area Demko would surely love to boost his numbers is in the playoffs. Through the years, he has appeared in just five post-season games and made only four starts. Remarkably in his five playoff appearances Demko has surrendered just four goals. He is 3-1 in his post-season decisions but needs to add to his body of work to climb the franchise ladder in playoff statistics. In fact, Arturs Silovs has played in twice as many Stanley Cup Playoff games as Demko and has two more victories based on his 10-game run this year. To frame it even further, Corey Hirsch is one of nine netminders that has appeared in more playoff games as a Canuck than Demko has. The Canucks need a healthy Demko to settle in for a lengthy post-season run to begin his climb through the ranks.
Key marks for Thatcher Demko next season:
10 appearances to move into fourth all-time in franchise history
10 victories to move into third all-time in franchise history
Three shutouts to move into a share of fifth all-time as a Canucks goalie
