Canucks: Thatcher Demko's return now on the horizon

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You’ve probably seen the videos by now, but if you haven’t, we can tell you that Thatcher Demko’s return is definitively now a case of when, not if.

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The Vancouver Canucks’ No. 1 netminder was again on the ice Wednesday afternoon as he works his way back from an injury to the popliteus muscle behind his left knee. And then he was on the Thursday morning as part of the Canucks’ highly optional morning skate before their game Thursday night vs. the Los Angeles Kings.

There’s optimism behind the scenes, cautious of course, that Demko could play a game by the first week of December.

For weeks Demko has been a bit like sasquatch: a rumour, of whom grainy videos would appear from time to time. There’s been not even a notion of a timeline.

Has he taken shots? Is he doing goalie actions? These were the kinds of questions we’ve been asking.

Wednesday’s news answered both those key questions: yes and yes. The Canucks had a Wednesday afternoon skate at Crypto.com Arena in LA, where they’ll play the Kings on Thursday night, and Demko took part in some of the practice. And now there’s at least the idea of a timeline in play.

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He’s still not a full participant, but he took some shots before the team’s full practice, the latest good sign of progress. He was spotted taking shots from Dakota Joshua on Saturday in San Jose, but Wednesday saw him face a variety of shooters before the Canucks began their full practice.

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According to Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy, while the team practised, Demko stayed on the ice and continued to work on his own.

Just from experience, it’s clear that Demko is progressing well and his return can now be envisioned within a few weeks. Several sources acknowledged, with cautious optimism, that if all goes well he’s able to start practising in the next 10 days or so — he’d be on course to play a game by early December at the latest.

The Canucks have a very amenable schedule this month, with a number of practice days scheduled. Given where Demko is currently at, you could easily see him joining practice as a regular participant as soon as the end of next week.

Remember, he’s not had a training camp or pre-season, so he’ll need lots of reps to get himself back up to speed and as close to game-ready as possible, hence the end-of-month timeline being the hoped-for plan at this point.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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