Canucks’ Rick Tocchet provides big Thatcher Demko update ahead of Game 5

The Vancouver Canucks are in the midst of a thrilling best-of-7 second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, which has now become a best-of-3 ahead of a critical Game 5 at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. The Canucks are two wins away from advancing to their first Western Conference Final since 2011, and that’s been without the services of Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko.

Although Demko remains out of the lineup after suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 6 against the Nashville Predators in Round 1, coach Rick Tocchet provided a huge update on the star goaltender earlier this week.

“All I know is he’s improved immensely the last 72 hours,” Tocchet said on Wednesday, according to NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley. “I can give you that. I’m not going to give you a percentage, but it’s better than 10 percent [improvement]. He’s really, the last 2-3 days, made some strides. Big strides.”

That’s phenomenal news for Canucks fans, but the fact remains that Demko probably won’t be an option for the last three games of the second round. He has been skating for two weeks, and has progressed to crease movements along with goaltending coach Ian Clark, per Woodley.

But that doesn’t mean he’ll be ready to play against Connor McDavid and the Oilers — even if it comes down to a winner-take-all Game 7 early next week.

“I don’t know if I want to go that far,” Tocchet said when asked if the 28-year-old could return at all in the series.

Still, it’s an important update for one of the most important pieces of Vancouver’s core. Demko went 35-14-2 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .918 save percentage during the 2023-24 regular-season, adding five shutouts despite missing the final few weeks of the campaign with a left knee injury.

He played two regular-season contests before getting injured again in Game 1 against Nashville — although Tocchet confirmed that it wasn’t related to his previous ailment.

But in his absence, third-stringer Arturs Silovs has been providing goaltending well above his pay grade, and will need to keep doing so if the Canucks hope to win this series.

Canucks will likely run with Arturs Silovs for rest of Round 2