Armchair Hockey Scout

Ask the book

2026-27 edition Ask a direct question about this edition of the book — who, how many, how common, which group more — and it is answered with a table computed on this page from the edition’s index: the season line, height and age, the on-ice percentiles, the grades and the traits read out of every report. Ask for a view on named players — what a comparison comes down to, what makes a man — and you get the book’s reading of their own pages, and only those. The model turns your question into a query and phrases the result, or reads the pages it is handed; it never originates a figure, and an answer carrying a figure that is on neither the table nor the pages is withheld. It does not forecast, and it says so when a question is outside what the book holds.

Tables are computed on this page from the 2026-27 edition’s index; readings rest on the players’ own pages; the model never counts. Twenty questions an hour.

Thatcher Demko

Photo by TheAHL, CC BY 2.0

Thatcher Demko

Vancouver Canucks Goaltender #35

262 games, a career .9092, and 20 appearances.

SeasonTeamGPWLOTLGAGAASOSASV%
2017-18VAN110043.91030.867
2018-19VAN9431252.810288.913
2019-20VAN2713102783.060822.905
2020-21VAN3516181992.8511164.915
2021-22VAN64332271682.7211967.915
2022-23VAN3214144993.1611005.901
2023-24VAN51351421232.4551492.918
2024-25VAN231083632.901569.889
2025-26VAN208101542.901514.895
2026-27 so far——————————
Career—26213499217132.81107851.909

This Season So Far

The 2026-27 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

20 appearances, 8-10-1, a 2.90 goals-against average and a .8949 save percentage with 1 shutout.

His career figure across 262 games is .9092, with 134 wins.

Over his last 10 appearances, .884 on 250 shots.

The Physical Game

6-4, 192, and technically the best goaltender in this crease by a distance — the depth management is excellent, he is square through lateral plays, and the glove is genuinely good.

When healthy he is a legitimate starter and the numbers across 260 games say so.

The Mental Game

The health is the entire page. A popliteus injury cost him most of a season, the recovery has been repeatedly interrupted, and 20 appearances is the second time in 3 years he has not reached 40.

He was a Vezina finalist 3 seasons ago.

The Intangibles

A .8949 across 20 games is poor and it is the best figure any Vancouver goaltender posted. Lankinen stopped .8755 in 47 and Tolopilo .8814 in 21.

The club conceded 210 goals at 5-on-5, the most in the league, against an expected 193.9.

He is 30, a second-round pick, and the whole question in Vancouver is whether the man with the .9092 career figure can play 60 games again. Nothing in the last 3 seasons suggests it and nothing else on this roster works if he cannot.

The numbers underneath

Recent form

Last 20 appearances, 2025-26, oldest first

.880

save percentage over his last 8, on 209 shots · .894 across these 20

Each bar is one appearance, taller being a better save percentage. Filled bars are .920 or better.