VANCOUVER – One other injury-plagued season has ended for Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko.
The NHL team announced Tuesday that the star netminder is ready to undergo season-ending hip surgery next week.
“After consulting with our team doctors and out of doors specialists, Thatcher Demko might be shut down for the remainder of the 12 months,” general manager Patrik Allvin said in a press release.
“Thatcher will undergo surgery next week for an injury unrelated to the one which kept him out of motion last season. Following his rehab, he might be ready for the beginning of coaching camp in September.”
The 30-year-old goaltender has not played since Jan. 10 when he left midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto, but Canucks head coach Adam Foote said he’s been coping with the injury for for much longer.
“It’s tough to observe him undergo what he’s passed through. He’s fought through it for some time now,” Foote said Tuesday.
Demko went 8-10-1 with a .897 save percentage, a 2.90 goals-against average and one shutout this season.
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He missed 12 games between mid-November and mid-December with a lower-body injury, then returned and appeared in 10 more contests before happening against Toronto.
The Canucks have known for just a few weeks that Demko was unlikely to play again this season, and Tuesday’s announcement didn’t catch the team by surprise, Foote said, noting that he had a protracted conversation with the goalie.
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“I believe it’s a relief for him and the group,” the coach said. “What I like about it’s his demeanour … he was completely happy it was the thing that would probably make him feel so much higher and keep him moving forward, playing hockey.”
Demko was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the league’s top netminder, in 2023-24 after going 35-14-2 with a .918 save percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie from San Diego, Cali., suffered a knee injury in Game 1 of Vancouver’s first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators that season.
He didn’t play again until Dec. 10, 2024, and struggled to remain healthy through much of last season, playing just 23 games and posting a 10-8-3 record with a .889 save percentage, a 2.90 goals-against average and one shutout.
Demko went on to sign a three-year, US$25.5-million extension on July 1.
The goalie’s season-ending surgery is the most recent injury to mar an unpleasant season for the Canucks.
Vancouver heads into Tuesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks sitting in last place within the NHL standings with a 17-30-5 record and five players on injured reserve.
The list also includes centre Marco Rossi (lower body), winger Brock Boeser (concussion), and defencemen Zeev Buium (facial fracture) and Derek Forbot (undisclosed).
Boeser and Buium were added on Monday after each were hurt in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
Boeser caught an elbow to the pinnacle from Penguins winger Bryan Rust in the ultimate moments of the sport. The NHL’s department of player safety handed Rust a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the pinnacle on Tuesday.
Foote said Boeser stays in concussion protocol but was feeling higher on Monday.
Buium was hit within the face with a puck in the primary period on Sunday, but returned wearing a bubble visor on his helmet and logged 15:41 in ice time.
“I like his toughness,” Foote said of the young blue liner fiddling with the injury.
After the sport, a physician determined Buium had a facial fracture, probably in his cheek bone, the coach said.
He just isn’t expected to wish surgery, but will likely be out until after the NHL’s Olympic break, Foote added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press