You don't hand a professional tryout to a goalie whose last contract got torn up in the KHL because you feel great about your starter's hip.
The Canucks signed Chris Driedger to a PTO on Thursday. Look at what the move actually is, not how it's being framed. This is Vancouver bracing for the chance that Thatcher Demko, its $8.5 million netminder, isn't ready when the games start to count.
The signing tells you what the front office won't
General manager Ryan Johnson wants you to hear "insurance." His words: "We're ready for anything. I've got to make sure, as an organization, we're covered and prepared for whatever timeline's needed to allow him to not just get back, but make sure it's sustainable."
Fine. But teams don't bring in bodies like this when they're confident. Driedger has played just two NHL games since the end of the 2021-22 season, spending most of that stretch in the AHL. Last season he was in Russia with Traktor Chelyabinsk, where he went 8-9-2 with a .897 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against average before the two sides mutually terminated the deal in November. His NHL résumé is real but old: over 67 career games with Ottawa, Florida and Seattle, he's 31-24-5 with a .917 save percentage, numbers from a different stretch of his career.
This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately signing. You only reach for a stopgap like this when the plan above him is shaky.
Demko is the reason, and everybody knows it
Johnson has been noncommittal on whether Demko will be ready to start the season after hip surgery in January. He keeps returning to the same phrasing: "I've said all along with Thatcher, we've never really been operating on timelines. When you come this far with something, why not make sure you take the last final steps? He's had a great summer physically and mentally."
Weeks earlier: "I've stayed with the messaging we do not have him on a timeline, never have."
The uncertainty looks real here, not just Johnson covering himself. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman recently noted there's no firm timeline for Demko's return. CHEK's Rick Dhaliwal put it plainly: "Thatcher Demko is on the ice skating, working hard. I don't know if he's going to be ready for training camp, it's always a long road after you have hip surgery. There's also no need to rush him. Do not play that guy until he's 100% healthy."
Dhaliwal's right on the hockey. Demko in his last fully healthy season, 2023-24, was an All-Star and finished second in Vezina voting with a .918 save percentage and 2.45 GAA across 51 games. Since then it's been 23 games, then 20. On a team openly rebuilding, there's no reason to gamble that body on an October opener.
What fans actually deserve
So I don't blame the Canucks for being patient. I blame them for being vague while being patient.
The tone here has quietly shifted. Vancouver's early-August outlook reportedly had Demko tracking for camp. By late August, both the team's language and outside reporting had drifted toward real uncertainty. That's a meaningful change, and Johnson's carefully hedged "no timelines" script has stayed word-for-word the same the whole way down. When the situation gets worse and the messaging doesn't move an inch, the messaging is doing a job, and it isn't informing you.
You can be honest and still be careful. "He had a setback, we're recalibrating, here's roughly where things stand" isn't a betrayal of a player's privacy. It's the bare minimum for a fan base that's watched this position wobble for two straight seasons.
This was never really about a tryout
The roster math backs this up. Driedger is competing for a job behind Demko and Kevin Lankinen. The presumed backup, Nikita Tolopilo, went 6-11-2 with an .881 save percentage in 21 starts last season and would have to clear waivers. Having Driedger in camp lets Vancouver run three goalies and expose Tolopilo early, when claims are least likely, without gutting its depth. Lankinen, 31, has made 92 starts over two seasons here at a 3.12 GAA and .889 save percentage, below average, but the guy who'd carry the load if Demko can't go.
That's a detailed contingency plan for a starter the organization keeps insisting is fine.
The preseason opens Sept. 19 against Seattle, and the regular season starts Sept. 29 in Edmonton. Somewhere between now and then, Vancouver is going to have to say something real about Demko. The Driedger signing already did. The front office just hasn't caught up to its own move.
