New report reveals the incredibly rare injury that Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is dealing with

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Tyler Ball
September 23, 2024 (5:45 PM)

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Today a new report from a Vancouver Canucks reporter has revealed the official injury that Thatcher Demko has been diagnosed with and just how rare it is.

The Vancouver Canucks have been trying to evaluate the future of goaltender Thatcher Demko for months. After injuring himself in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Thatcher Demko still has not been cleared to play. To this point, the exact injury that has kept Thatcher Demko sidelined has been known to be rare, but beyond that, it has been kept hidden.

In a new interview with Sportsnet Vancouver Canucks journalist Kevin Woodley spoke about the Thatcher Demko injury. He revealed that according to his sources, the injury has now officially been diagnosed. Thatcher Demko has an injury to his Popliteus a thin triangle-shaped muscle at the back of the knee.

It is a small but somewhat significant stabilizing muscle, said Woodley.

It is super rare, admitted Woodley. I've talked to a couple of people that have been doing this at the NHL level for 30 years, they've never seen it.

With a diagnosis now made a recovery time can begin to be predicted. The only problem now becomes that this injury is so rare that a true recovery time is not well-researched.

Canucks reporter reveals the recovery time for Thatcher Demko's injury

As his time with Sportsnet continued Kevin Woodley was asked about the recovery time for an injury to the Popliteus. According to his research, the recovery can range from 3 to 16 weeks.

When you first look it up one of the first things you'll see is the healing time is anywhere from 3 to 16 weeks, said Woodley with a laugh. Nothing like nailing it down right? There is that much uncertainty with that injury.

This diagnosis is a bit more hopeful than what fans have heard in the past when it comes to Thatcher Demko's injury. Initial reports believed this would be an injury that could only be managed and not fully healed. Now, of course, this injury is still incredibly rare, which makes trying to predict his recovery time tricky. However, it does sound like there is a path to full recovery and Thatcher Demko returning to his dominant self.

As the season gets underway, Thatcher Demko's injury situation will be one to follow closely, much like fellow goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy's was last season. When more details are released regarding Thatcher Demko's prognosis, we will pass them along to you.

Source: Hockey Feed
Thatcher Demko's injury finally revealed.