Thatcher Demko

Thatcher Demko was born in San Diego, California on December 8, 1995 — a background his InGoal coverage references on multiple occasions, identifying him as a "San Diego native." The Vancouver Canucks selected him in the second round of the 2014 NHL Draft, 36th overall. He wears number 35 and catches left. At 6'4" and 192 pounds, he is the Canucks' number one goaltender.

Through 262 career regular-season games, Demko has posted a record of 134–99–21, a career goals-against average of 2.81, a save percentage of .909, and 10 shutouts. In the current 2025–26 season, he has appeared in 20 games, going 8–10–1 with a 2.90 goals-against average, an .897 save percentage, and 1 shutout, with 514 shots against over 1,115:52 of ice time.

InGoal Magazine has covered Thatcher Demko in one podcast appearance, twelve Pro Reads, and two drill breakdowns.

His InGoal Radio appearance InGoal Radio Episode 136 with Thatcher Demko, recorded in September 2021, has been described repeatedly in subsequent InGoal articles as one of the most popular episodes the podcast has produced.

Demko's Pro Reads series began in December 2022 Thatcher Demko ProRead 1, with Kevin Woodley noting that Demko "walked us through video breakdowns for close to an hour and did not disappoint in his ability and willingness to explain how he sees the game unfold in front of him." That debut covered an odd-man rush against the Buffalo Sabres, with Demko describing his process for reading and responding: "The first thing that goes for me is my eyes. Before anything else moves, my eyes are going first and then I can make my read."

His second Pro Read Thatcher Demko ProRead 2 examined an in-zone sequence against Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks, where Demko explained his approach to identifying dangerous areas on the ice rather than tracking individual players. "For me, where is only threat on the ice," he said. "You are trying to find pockets on the ice that are open and where breakdowns could occur." On managing east-west passes, he outlined a clear rule: "Any time you get below the dot where it's a long east-west pass, it's got to be skate to post and you can adjust from there."

The third session Thatcher Demko ProRead 3 broke down a one-on-one rush against Seattle's Jared McCann and addressed the challenge of managing stance as an attacking player changes direction. "You want to stay narrow as long as you can but as he gets into a position where he can shoot it's hard to keep that high stance because your shot preparation is not going to be there," Demko explained.

Pro Read 4 Thatcher Demko ProRead 4 returned to the subject of the Reverse post technique during a rush chance against the Minnesota Wild. Demko detailed why the position gives him coverage on multiple options — shoot, wraparound, or backdoor pass — and described the physical keys to executing a push across out of it: "You've got to get your knee down first. A lot of goalies will reach with their toe but when this pass is made across, I've been taught to reach with the knee, so you seal the ice first, seal the middle of the net first."

Pro Read 5 Thatcher Demko ProRead 5, published in April 2023 as Demko returned from a groin injury that had kept him out three months, examined his alignment in the Reverse relative to a Calgary Flames power play. Demko explained that against a player like Johnny Gaudreau — one he described as unpredictable — alignment rather than anticipation becomes the governing principle: "There are guys you can't predict. As he gets this puck back behind the net, he has three options. You're not making a read but if you look at my alignment on the post, whatever of those three options he chooses, I don't have to adjust my angle to make a push."

Pro Reads 6, 7, and 8 [REF:8, REF:7, REF:6] formed a sustained look at Demko's use of the Reverse in various game situations — below the goal line, at the hash marks, and during shorthanded sequences. Demko addressed the broader debate around the technique directly: "My argument to the whole Reverse thing is you get beat when you go into the butterfly. Does that mean you should never butterfly? You have to play the game." He also detailed what he calls a "Committed Reverse," where alignment is secondary to coverage, and described the importance of getting the knee down before reaching: "That's exactly why you need your knee down is because a lot of pucks, you'd be surprised, go middle net, even on backdoor plays."

Pro Read 9 Thatcher Demko ProRead 9 covered a screen situation against the Minnesota Wild, with Demko discussing the evolving tactical relationship between power plays and penalty-killing units. "A lot of guys are doing this now because a lot of PKs will have this guy flex out in the far side lane," he said, noting the difficulty of maintaining both visual and angle simultaneously: "That's the tough part, that balance between having a visual and having angle."

Pro Read 10 Thatcher Demko ProRead 10 introduced what Demko and Canucks goalie coach Ian Clark call a "Zig-Zag" recovery — a technique Demko explained he typically uses when his inside skate is below the goal line on a particularly extreme angle. The breakdown also addressed managing screens through sightline selection: "Short-side look, as much as you can. The short side is typically going to be the clearest lane most of the time."

Pro Reads 11 and 12 [REF:3, REF:2] returned to breakaways and Demko's philosophy around depth and timing. He described his primary focus as reaching a "destination" — the top of the crease — by the moment a shooter commits to shooting or deking: "It's a depth control thing. Obviously you have to take a little extra but you have to control yourself too. You see guys have too much momentum and by the time he shoots it, the puck is in the net and you're drifting back." In the twelfth and most recent Pro Read, Demko also highlighted the role his defender's positioning plays in reading the play: "I find on this one for me if he pulls this to shoot, he's going to get caught. That's one where you know he's going to deke."

InGoal has also published two drill breakdowns featuring Demko and Clark. The first Four Times Rotation added to Game Day Routine by Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, from December 2023, introduced a drill called Four Times Rotation, which Demko added to his game-day warm-up routine that season. "For me, it's helped with butterfly balance," he said. "You can't rotate well if you're not underneath yourself, so not sagging, high hips and early eyes." Clark described the drill's primary function as developing accurate rotation: "Rotation sets the table for the next move, so it is fundamental to goaltending and positional efficiency."

The second drill breakdown Canucks Goalie Coach Ian Clark and Thatcher Demko Share Drills for Lateral Recoveries, published in March 2024, captured Clark's "Lateral Touch" drill series — short, medium, and long butterfly recovery pushes designed to develop both explosiveness and finesse in lateral movement. Clark's principle is that the technique should not change regardless of distance, only the power applied. Demko connected the training directly to late-game demands: "When you are most tired, you're going to fall back on your highest level of training. So a lot of times when you get tired you just have to rely on your body to do what it's trained to do and so that's why the practices and every single rep are so important to make sure that you see it all the way through."