At one point in time not too long ago, Thatcher Demko was looked upon as the future in goal for the Vancouver Canucks but injuries have derailed his career over the last few years. With just one year remaining on his deal and the Canucks having invested in another goaltender long-term, should the Philadelphia Flyers throw their hat in the ring?
It’s crazy how quickly things can change in the NHL within just one calendar year. The Canucks won the Pacific Division and were looked upon as legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup in 2023-24, but fast forward one year and it’s a completely different outlook for the club.
They no longer have their Jack Adams-winning head coach, Demko’s been injured, Elias Pettersson fell off the rails, J.T. Miller got traded, Brock Boeser might be walking as a UFA, and Quinn Hughes’ future is bleak at best after some questionable comments at the end of the season from Jim Rutherford.
Artūrs Šilovs stole the show in the playoffs last year when Demko went down with injury. He ripped the backup job from Casey DeSmith but was unable to replicate that same level of success this season. Demko also suffered a knee injury in the 2024 playoffs, which prompted the Canucks to sign Kevin Lankinen as reassurance. The Finnish netminder impressed so much so that he earned a 5-year extension worth $5 million per season, leaving many to question Demko’s future as he is set for unrestricted free agency next summer.
The 29-year-old Demko was previously plastered behind Jacob Markström until the latter got injured during the COVID-bubble playoffs in 2020 and the former had to come in down 3-1 in their series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Demko stole the show and forced a Game 7 on the back of a 48-save shutout in Game 6. Vegas eventually won the series but that allowed Demko to stake his claim to the net as Markström walked in free agency that following offseason.
From 2020-21 to 2023-24, Demko posted a 98-68-14 record with a .913 SV% and a 2.75 GAA, which included a 35-14-2 record with a .918 SV% in 2023-24. He managed to start in 179 games and was relatively healthy outside of a shortened 2022-23 season, however he’s been dealing with a reoccurring lower-body injury for a few years.
It was a season to forget in 2024-25 as Demko only managed to suit up for 23 games and posted career-lows across the board including a 2.90 GAA and a .889 SV%. Demko missed the start of the year due to his knee injury and then was later sidelined due to another lower-body injury before an illness cut his season short.
Now with the Canucks in flux once again and Lankinen receiving that extension that kicks in next season, is Demko’s time in Vancouver finished? They still have Šilovs in the system and with Demko on an expiring contract, it could allow several teams in need of a goalie to take a chance on a rental.
The Flyers would be one of those teams and they’ve been on the record so far this off-season in wanting to address their goaltending. Samuel Ersson could become a number one goaltender at some point in his career but he’s still too young and inexperienced to just be handed a 55-60 game threshold on the basis that they don’t trust their backup netminders.
Ersson was ran into the ground in 2023-24 after Carter Hart’s dismissal and their inability to get consistent performances from Felix Sandström and Cal Petersen. The thing happened this year when Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov continued to struggle. By the end of the year, they were rotating their starts more evenly but when Ersson was healthy, he played almost 70% of the games dating back to last season.
The Flyers just need consistency at this point with high upside and Demko could fill that role, even if it’s just for one season. He already has a great rapport with Rick Tocchet and in Philadelphia he won’t be tasked in playing 55-60 games with Ersson most likely splitting starts down the middle.
It would most certainly be the best 1A/1B tandem they can sport with what else is available this summer as they continue to bide time for Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin, who are still probably 2-3 years away. The Flyers will be looking for stop-gaps in the meantime and Demko might be the best one available.
Jake Allen would be the best goaltender on the free agent market should he get there this summer. Anton Forsberg and Ilya Samsonov would be other options the Flyers could explore, but they still pale in comparison to what Demko could provide.
There is the risk of re-injury, which has happened in the past, but with the Flyers still in the process of rebuilding and money not necessarily being an issue at the moment, it’s a high-risk, high-reward play if they can pry him out of Vancouver.
If he provides stability at a position that’s been unstable for nearly three decades, then the Flyers could look to extend him for another 2-3 years, which would allow Bjarnason and Zavragin to fully develop their games. If he gets hurt again or can’t replicate his successful campaigns from 2020-21 to 2023-24, then they can move on and see what their landscape looks like heading into 2026-27.
He carries a modest $5 million cap hit but considering the Canucks want to make changes and re-tool on the fly, it remains to be seen what a legitimate trade package could look like. The Flyers have a plethora of picks that could get a deal done and they can take on his entire AAV without retention, which would be a boon for the Canucks.
If the Flyers can manage to field a tandem of Demko and Ersson next season, we might finally see a season where they aren’t dead last or near the bottom in every statistical goaltending category. It could also be the first year in a very long time where we see multiple save percentages above 90%.
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