Exhale, Vancouver. The Canucks got their man.
On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks came to an agreement with Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko. The club signed the highly-regarded 20-year-old puck stopper — a second-round pick in 2014 — to a three-year entry-level contract. According to Sportsnet’s John Shannon, the deal is worth the maximum amount allowable under the entry-level system.
Though Canucks management maintained a confident posture regarding their ability to get a deal done with Demko, eyebrows across the Lower Mainland were furrowed when one of the top goaltending prospects in the sport didn’t sign promptly upon the conclusion of his NCAA season. In the age of Jimmy Vesey and Justin Schultz, hardcore hockey fans know that things can get dicey when a top prospect returns for his senior year of college hockey.
The Canucks understand that, too. It’s why they’d been preparing to put on a full-court press to get Demko signed for months now.
Though hands were wrung as the process was somewhat delayed, there wasn’t anything sinister going on. Demko just wanted to take his time, reflect and consider his decision. The organization respected his request.
While the Demko news vacuum unnerved some fans over the past two weeks, the Canucks believe that appreciating the process in full helped them land a player many believe is now the organization’s top prospect.
“First of all, he’s a really competitive kid,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning told Sportsnet on Wednesday. “He was mad when his team lost out (in the Frozen Four) so he needed some time to decompress. From there he needed time to figure out what the next step was.
“We talked to the family and then gave him his space. He’s the type of kid that when it’s time to make the decision, he’ll make the decision… We wanted him to feel comfortable and make the decision that was right for him and his family.”
In addition to being one of the most highly-rated netminders to come through the college system over the past few years, Demko appears to be a bit of an individualist. That shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, considering his nontraditional background. It takes a certain type of cat to grow up on the beaches of San Diego, Calif., and spend their youth at the rink working tirelessly to become an elite goaltending prospect.
Part of that process involved accelerating through high school so that he could play NCAA hockey as a 17-year-old first-time draft-eligible player. There’s a lot of evidence that suggests Demko is a considered, measured personality.
“He’s a real thoughtful guy,” Benning said. “With every decision he’s made — whether it was playing in the USHL, going to Boston College, or turning pro — he’s really deliberate in his decision making. This decision to sign with us was no different.”
Demko’s contract will begin next season, when he’s expected to play (and play often) in Utica. He won’t be reporting to Vancouver’s American Hockey League affiliate for this year’s post-season, as he’ll be too busy finishing school and representing Team USA’s senior men’s team at the 2016 World Ice Hockey Championship in Russia.
This has been a core part of Benning’s plan. The Canucks general manager cut his teeth in the industry as a Buffalo Sabres scout during an era in which that club developed and transitioned between Dominik Hasek and Marty Biron and Ryan Miller. That teams should be built from the net out is one of Benning’s core convictions.
Effectively, Demko is the crown jewel of Benning’s goaltending succession plan in Vancouver. That plan will involve having Demko at the AHL level working with a minor league goalie coach (most likely Dan Cloutier) and a veteran goalie – either pricey third-stringer Richard Bachman or Group VI unrestricted free agent Joe Cannata – next season.
“We’ve set ourselves up well,” Benning said. “The goaltending position is a tough position and if these young goalies have somebody they look up to — a mentor type — that helps them along in their development.”
At Boston College, Demko was dominant. He broke Cory Schneider’s shutout record and posted the second-best regular season save percentage in the nation behind only Yale’s Alex Lyon, who is three years Demko’s senior. As a professional though, Demko is a project. He’s likely to take at least a few years to arrive as an NHL regular.
That’s just the way it’s trending with NHL goaltenders. Of the 47 netminders who played more than 25 games this season, only five were under the age of 25. That number would’ve been even smaller were it not for injuries to Mike Smith, Ondrej Pavelec and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Getting Demko signed required patience and finesse on the part of Canucks management. And an abundance of patience will still be required now that the ink is drying on Demko’s contract.
Luckily, patience is a luxury the Canucks can afford — at least when it comes to their goaltending situation.
With Jacob Markstrom showing promise in his first full season with the team, the Canucks seem well-prepared to let Demko slow cook in the American League. And though it’s extraordinarily difficult to project the development of goaltenders, Demko seems to have the skillset, athleticism and personality to be worth the wait.