The Vancouver Canucks will be without their All-Star starter for the next two to four weeks; in his place, they’ve called up the World Championship MVP.
Thatcher Demko left Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets in the second period and was replaced by backup goaltender Casey DeSmith, who kept his shutout going through to the end of regulation for a 5-0 win. According to a report from TSN’s Farhan Lalji, Demko has a knee injury and will miss two to four weeks.
Even if Demko misses the full four weeks, he would return to the Canucks lineup two weeks before the start of the playoffs, with time to get back into his groove with five games remaining in the regular season.
Still, that means Demko won’t be available for the Canucks for as many as 11 games and will need to rely on DeSmith to fill in, something he has done capably with his previous team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, when they suffered injuries to their starter.
DeSmith will be backed up by Arturs Silovs, who was called up from the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL on Tuesday.
Silovs has had a middling season in the AHL, with a .907 save percentage, though he is coming off a shutout in his most recent start against the Henderson Silver Knights. But Silovs has proven he can handle the pressure of playing in the NHL, stepping into the Canucks’ lineup for five games last season and holding his own behind a defence that was repeatedly giving up dangerous, grade-A chances.
In addition, Silovs took a starring role for Latvia at the 2023 World Championships, backstopping his country to a bronze medal — their first-ever medal in IIHF competition. Silovs was incredible in net for Latvia, posting a .921 save percentage across ten games. For his heroics, Silovs was named tournament MVP.
With his experience and potential to perform even better behind the improved structure of this season’s Canucks, Silovs made sense to be the team’s call-up ahead of AHL rookie Nikita Tolopilo, who has performed well enough in Abbotsford to steal starts away from Silovs.
Depending on how long Demko’s recover takes within the two-to-four-week window, Silovs could get a couple of starts in place of DeSmith. The Canucks’ schedule, however, is fairly light over the next four weeks, with just one set of back-to-back games. That will leave plenty of time for DeSmith to get rest, so he will likely start the bulk of the games.
