Canucks: Thatcher Demko injury mystery solved? Here's the reported problem

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Thatcher Demko’s injury picture is starting to come into focus, thanks to Kevin Woodley of InGoal Magazine and NHL.com.

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Woodley told the Halford and Brough Show Monday morning on Sportsnet 650 that Demko’s issue is with the popliteus muscle, which is located at the back of the knee. There’s been no timeline from the Vancouver Canucks regarding when their starting netminder could return, and the team went about adding to their goaltending stable by signing free-agent Kevin Lankinen over the weekend.

Demko is skating on his own and talked to the media last week in Penticton. He didn’t say what the injury is exactly, but did call it “rare” and “unique,” and was hesitant himself to say when he might be back patrolling the crease for the Canucks. He did maintain that he was on a “great trajectory right now.,” and that “this is the most confident that I’ve been in the rehab process to date.”

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The National Library of Medicine says that “despite its small size, the popliteus is a major stabilizing muscle of the knee.”

Woodley is considered a goalie guru, and his batting average on such issues is usually top-notch.

“Whether it’s a tear, to what degree, we don’t know,” Woodley said on 650. “This is a muscle deep behind several other layers of muscle deep on the back of your knee. It doesn’t do much. It sort of attaches to the top of the inside of the femur and then back to the tibia on the top of the other side. For runners, it’s what unlocks the knee joint from straight. It has a pretty negligible effect on the flexion of the knee but it pulls the lateral meniscus back and out of the way on inflection. It’s a small but somewhat stabilizing muscle and ligament.

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“I’m not sure of the degree of the damage or whether he’s pulled it off the bone at the ligament, but it is super rare. I’ve talked to a couple of people who have been doing this at the NHL level for 30 years and they’ve never seen it. So everything they (the Canucks and Demko) are telling us tracks and despite it being small and somewhat insignificant, there’s obviously uncertainty that comes no sort of prescribed way to improve it.”

Google “How long does a popliteus strain take to heal?” and you get back three to 16 weeks, as Woodley pointed out on the show.

Google “Athletes who have suffered a politeus injury?” and you don’t get many references. Then Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum was diagnosed popliteal strain in March, 2019 and he missed 10 games.

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McCollum has missed games in subsequent seasons but none have been tied to a knee.

SEwen@postmedia.com

@SteveEwen

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