The Vancouver Canucks and their fanbase are holding their breath, waiting to hear more about the status of goaltender Thatcher Demko after he left Thursday night’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
The incident leading to his departure occurred in the second period of their comeback win when one of his own defencemen, Noah Juulson, got his feet tied up with him. Demko hit the ice landing on his back, and left the game.
The Canucks recalled goaltender Arturs Silovs from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, and head coach Rick Tocchet offered a somewhat optimistic update Friday.
“Back spasms,” he said of the injury, via CanucksArmy. “I don’t think it’s serious, but you know how back spasms are, could be a day or two.”
Demko found himself out of the Canucks lineup for the first 26 games of the season, recovering from a torn popliteus muscle.
Kevin Lankinen entered Thursday’s game in relief, turning aside 13 of 15 shots he faced, and got the start Friday against the Nashville Predators, who paid a visit to Rogers Arena.

Pettersson lands on injured reserve

More injury news around the Canucks saw Elias Pettersson placed on the injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 23rd.
He last played in a game that night and was injured in the second period, but hasn’t played since despite Tocchet saying at the time he didn’t “think it was too bad.”
Pettersson, who is in the midst of a once-private, now-public spat with teammate J.T. Miller, has appeared in 28 games this year, scoring 10 goals and 28 points.
The Canucks are also without captain Quinn Hughes, who is week-to-week with an upper body injury. He also last played on Dec. 23rd, also having missed the last four games.

More news…

  • Another goaltender injured Thursday was Colorado Avalanche netminder Scott Wedgewood, who in the third period of their game against the Buffalo Sabres, was involved in a collision with teammate Parker Kelly and Sabres winger Zach Benson. Buffalo scored on the play, and head coach Jared Bednar was none-too-pleased with it.
  • Canada was eliminated from the World Juniors in the quarter-finals Thursday night for the second time in as many years. Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis opined it’s the country’s most disappointing loss in their tournament history. “With the tournament being on home ice, and featuring a roster with 10 first-round picks and potentially the first selection in each of the next two drafts, this has to go down as one of Canada’s most disastrous results in tournament history,” Ellis wrote.
  • A minor trade Friday saw the Pittsburgh Penguins acquire minor league defenceman Colton Poolman from the Buffalo Sabres for Bennett MacArthur and Jagger Joshua.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, and senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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