Halford & Brough in the Morning - Frank Seravalli Gives An Injury Update On Thatcher Demko

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

In hour two, Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd talk to Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:25), who gives an injury update regarding Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko, plus the boys speak with Vancouver Giants head coach Parker Burgess (26:49). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough SportsNet 6th 50. Free. Jamie Dodd in for the vacationing, Jason Bruff. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks.

Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in our two of the program, as the song suggests. Frank Sair Valley from Victory Plus is going to join us in just a moment here with some news and an update on Thatcher Demco. So turn up your radios and whatever other device you're listening. listening on. We'll be frankly be joining us in just a second here. Our two, this program is brought to by Jason Homnuck at Jason. Mortgage. If you love giving the banks

more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is our NHL Insider from Victory Plus. Frank Sarah Valley, a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor joins us now on the Halford

and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. And your timing, as always, is impeccable. I know on social media you just posted. Working for you. You're the best, Frank.

That's the reason you're the best. Can you give our listeners the update they might not have seen on social about Vancouver Canucks injured goalie Thatcher Demko? Yeah, I know everyone's pulling their rat fast night's game with Demko leaving due to injury. And at least the early indication is he's relatively positive. You don't want your number one missing any period of time, but it sounds like it's a relatively minor injury, and he's expected to miss two to three weeks or so to get back on track. And as I reported, it's related to the that caused him to miss a significant amount of time.

And also, oddly enough, unrelated, completely unrelated, to the reason why he took some maintenance time last week. So in the end, I think probably bullet dodged and, you know, it's certainly going to place an increased reliance here on Kevin Lankin and moving forward for a team that's really relied on his coaltending so far this season. Okay, Frank, we're going to have to drop the call temporarily here and pick it back up.

We're getting a pretty lousy reception here. We're speaking of Frank Saravalli from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We will get Frank right back on the line, but to reiterate what you might have missed due to the choppy line, Frank is reporting, as he's classifying it, some relatively positive news for the Canucks on Thatcher Demko this morning. Early indication is that Demko is expected to miss two to three weeks with a minor injury.

Frank also adds, courtesy of his reporting, it's unrelated to Demko's previous knee injury and unrelated to why Demko took maintenance days last week. So if you're keeping track, there are now three different ailments that Thatcher Demko has undergone over the last week. last, what, 12 to 16 months. One was the knee injury, the Popliteus, which is very well documented. The second is whatever was bothering Demko over the course of the weekend that led to the preventative maintenance over the Saturday and Sunday games against Columbus and Colorado. There is a new ailment that is going to sideline Demko, again, according to Frank Sarvali from Victory Plus is reporting for two to three weeks, classified as a minor injury.

Now, if you want to pull up the schedule, Jamie, we can start doing the. math on this one. The Canucks do head out on a three-game road swing and not an easy one in the east. You would presume obviously that Demko's going to miss the entirety of that. If we were to do a brief look at how many games he might be missing

and what this might mean for Lankin and and Patera, what does it suggest? So two weeks exactly would have him out for five games, so the three on the road trip and then home against Dallas and Calgary. As I said earlier in the show, the schedule does thin out a little bit once they get back from this road trip. Theoretically, the

earliest, based on a two- or three-week timeline, he could return would be November 26 on the road against Anaheim. They've got another four games in that week. So it could be anywhere from five to nine games missed here for Thatcher Dempco. Okay, we've got Frank back on the line now. Frank, apologies for that. But we'll pick it up where we left off. We already reiterated two to three weeks for Demko with a minor injury, unrelated to the previous knee injury and the maintenance break over the weekend. Anything else to add to this one? No, just that Look, I know it's not ideal

But I, you know, I think everyone holds their breath Anytime you see the goalies get off the nice Especially your number one And I just I feel for Demko, a guy that seemingly can't really catch a break We are speaking of Frank Sarah Valley From Victory Plus here on the Halford Inbrough show on Sportsnet 650

Okay, let's turn our attention to another goalie situation We're going to see it play out in Philadelphia tonight the Edmonton Oilers, and I know there's been a lot of consternation about the goaltending, the general manager, Stan Bowman was asked about it, not exactly a vote of confidence from Stan. In terms of getting a solution, Frank, and I know we've talked about this one up down and left and right, but is there any real solution out there? Is it UC Soros out of Nashville, and is that even a possibility? Hard time seeing UC Soros being a fit for the Edmonton Oilers. Look, the reason

and why they haven't previously addressed their goaltending situation one, there hasn't really been anyone significant on the market that they feel like would drastically change their circumstance or a lot in life and two, they don't have the cap space to devote

additional funding to their goaltending. They're not that different than some other relatively elite teams that don't see the value in spending on goaltending, that they think they can get a relatively modicum of success from, you know, spending a lot less. The Carolina Hurricanes operate that way. There's plenty of others.

And so when it comes to changing that or shifting that focus in season, I mean, you're talking about shipping out roster pieces in order to make that happen. And for the Oilers, where I think the biggest question mark that I've seen from this team to start the season has again been an over-reliance on 97 and 29 that if you're if you're now going to take other pieces out of your lineup to try and improve your goaltending I think you you know begin to rob Peter to pay Paul and and that part is certainly something that they're going to have to consider to say nothing of a thin goalie market anyone who's got anything of substance is hanging on to that guy and on the sorrows front specifically

I mean, this is two seasons in a row now where we're seeing the low average goaltending from Sorrows. And he's in the first year of an eight-year deal. I mean, we're talking about a guy that has, you know, $60 million remaining on his deal. And that takes him to age 39. And you add in his undersized for a goalie frame at 5-11. There are real questions as to whether or not Soros can get you to where you will. want to get to in the postseason, let alone to say nothing of the contract. I think that contract is right up there on the Nashville books with some of the other tough veteran deals that they

have. And the way I see it, if someone wants to take on Soros, like it should be for either net nothing or the Preds are paying you to take on that risk, because it's not insignificant. Where's the level of urgency or is there a level of urgency in Nashville to get all of this sorted out and start trying to win hockey games? There should be a level of urgency. We haven't seen any yet.

They've yet to make a coaching change. They've yet to really make a significant move even going back to the offseason. I don't know where the Nashville predators are heading. All I know is the dysfunction that has surrounded that team and you would think that this global series this week would be a bit of a wake-up call to try and put a stake in the ground. Are we going to improve?

Are we going to begin tearing this down? What are we doing here? Because whatever they're doing on a one, six, and two slide for a team that is mentally down, I believe there's been a real toxic vibe and energy around that team based on people that I've talked to. And that's concerning because, you've got to find a way to snap out of that funk. A coaching change is one way to do it.

It's not going to solve everything. And I think the one reason why Barry Trotz has resisted that urge, not only is he a former coach himself, but also he's looking at it saying, I know that I've put together and one that is putting this coach in a bot, and I don't want people to, he's the escape code. He made decisions

trying to long-term vehicles or mid-dills that are well into their 30s. It might have had they had you know a good run last year and were a plan. Frank, I hate to do this

yet again, but we're going to have to drop the call. I apologize, but we're having incredible connection issues. Frank Serra Valley from Victory Plus, a presentation of anger out of liquor. No, we're okay. We'll kind of pick up where Frank left off there. There was a lot to unpack, even though we weren't able to get through the entirety of the call. The big one, obviously, and you heard it right off the hop, is that Thatcher Demko,

according to Frank's reporting, is going to miss the next two to three weeks. Now, here's the important part, I think. It's an injury unrelated to the Popliteus. It's unrelated to what kept him out over Saturday. Saturday's game against Columbus and Sunday's game against Colorado. And it's a new issue altogether. So that's something. I'll read Frank's tweet again here.

And he posted just before he came on with us some relatively positive news for Knoxon Thatcher Dempco this morning. Early indication is that Dempco is expected to miss two to three weeks with a minor injury. It's unrelated to his previous knee injury and unrelated to why Dempco took maintenance days last week. So there's some very good information in there from Frank. I also find the framing of it really interesting. And there are some people texting in when he reiterated that information on with us about this as well. Because he frames it as, look, relatively positive news.

Two to three weeks. That's not a long-term injury. And hey, it's not related to these other past injuries. And I can understand that framing. It's certainly a lot better than missing two to three months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On the other hand. That's an outsider's perspective, I feel.

On the other hand, it's hard to look at Thatcher Demko missing anywhere from five to nine games if the two to three week timeline is accurate as a positive because it's just injury after injury after injury stacking up. And again, the idea that, well, hey, don't worry. It's not related to the popliteas. It's like, okay, but the popliteas still happened. That injury is not wiped off the ledger because there's a new injury. Again, you're just adding another injury, another source of concern. going forward for Thatcher Dempco. So I get Frank's framing of,

okay, hey, relatively positive. Not worst case scenario. That's definitely true. But there's still lots to be concerned about when it comes to Thatcher Dempco's health and what it means for this team going forward. There was two ways that Dempco's health and injury concerns were going to play out this year.

And one was that a proactive plan with maintenance or whatever else you want to call it was going to alleviate some of the past stresses that the organization, thought it led to his health issues, right? Everyone kind of drew a direct line between the amount that Demko was playing and how aggressively he trained to the wear down effect on his body. So the organization through, I would say, fairly meticulous planning and the type of extension that they gave him were confident in saying, we can manage this with load management

and having a more open dialogue between the plan. player and the staff, and if he feels the need to step out, we'll be able to handle it. That was how, that was one direction which his injury thing was going to go. The other way it was going to go was that Demko's injury prone, and there's nothing you can do about it. And that was a grim, very dark outlook, but it was always a possibility. The older he gets, and the more that we see this situation play out, the more I fear that it's, the latter rather than the former, that it's just a guy that's a band-aid. He's a guy that's going to get hurt now, and he's a guy that can't stay healthy.

And no matter how thorough a medical plan you have or how much rest and maintenance you can provide, his body isn't going to be able to withstand the rigors of playing. And here's the important part, playing the amount he needs to play to make this a good tandem. Yes. That's a scary proposition moving forward, because as you mentioned earlier, his extension hasn't even kicked in. Well, and also, like, let's talk best case scenario here with Thatcher Dempco on the team, which is everything that you just laid out, and then you get to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and you want him playing every other night for two months.

That's a grind as well. Is his body going to be up for that, even in this best case scenario? Ian McIntyre, our colleague at Sportsnet, had a column last night writing off of this, and I think he makes a really good point. So if you go back into the long and lengthy history of Thatcher Dempco's injuries now back to the infamous Popliteus. So that spring of 2024 in

that series against the National Predators game one, the Popliteus injury. And then of course you remember over he might play game seven right against the Edmonton Oilers. Of course doesn't and the whole summer it's this is a unique injury. They're trying to figure out what it is. They're trying to get a handle on it. They don't

really know and it made training really difficult and then he comes back eventually that next season but other injuries hit. And part of the story was, well, he wasn't able to train properly in that summer because of the Popliteus and it was so weird and they didn't really understand it. So his body wasn't ready to stand up to the rigors of an NHL season that next year. This year, the story was completely different. It was he's fully healthy, has this incredible summer, was able to do exactly what he needed to do

to take care of his body. That plus Kevin Lankinen is going to equal Thatcher Demko who's able to stay healthy. We've already had the maintenance issue and now a new issue crop up and we're what 18 games into the season. So if the theory was him having a healthy summer, being able to put that work and put that maintenance in and get fully ready for the season was going to prevent injuries, we are not getting proof of concept of that yet. No proof of concept.

And if you're, if this is the case coming off even an ideal summer with a goal. that to Adam Foote's credit, a goalie partner in Kevin Lankin, they've trusted him. They've put him in. It's not like they've overworked Dempco so far this year at all. In many ways, this was the ideal situation for Project Keep Thatcher Demko healthy. And it's already running in to major issues. And again, so now he's on the shelf for two to three weeks. Is there going to be a return to performance lag time when he does get back in?

How is that going to affect his ability to withstand the grind of the rest of the schedule? I think these are all very valid questions considering the history of what we're dealing here with Thatcher Dempco. A lot of texts coming into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket as you expect. In case you missed it, again, and reporting from Victory Plus is Frank Saravale

just a few moments ago on this station. First real tangible update we've gotten from any sort of NHL insider on the health status of Thatcher Demko. Frank says it's two to three weeks. The Thatcher Demko now, again, as we pointed out, the important part is that Frank's reporting says this isn't related to the Popliteus.

It isn't related to what happened over the weekend that caused the maintenance. It's an entirely new injury. Nick and the Ridge texts in. You'd have to be a complete dope to believe that timeline and that it was unrelated. Adam Foote literally said that he overcompensated. That means it's related. This is damage control like usual. Nick, if this is damage control, it's the worst damage control I've ever heard.

Nobody says, hey, you know how we can quiet the noise and let us? lessen the storm is to introduce a new third injury to the pile. So while I appreciate your pessimism and your inherent skepticism, Nick, I do not believe that this is PR spin. I'm sorry, I don't. I don't think that any good public relations agency would be like the best way to lessen concerns about someone's health is to add a third injury to the list. You know what you understand what I'm saying?

Like sometimes it's not that complicated and it's not that deep it just it is what it is and there's no like great masking of the truth or conspiracy going on i know that history is suggested that this organization sometimes does a tap dance when it comes to dealing with the media and being cagey about players health but answer me this nick what is good spin here yeah do you say that it's from an injury that existed already does that make it better there's no real way to spin this in a positive way because it's not a positive situation. I know maybe two to three weeks is an optimistic timeline, but even that, it's not going to

like quell anybody's concerns about what's going on. Ryan on the road makes an interesting point. He texts in, is Frank a doctor? That's not the interesting point. How would he know it's unrelated to the popliteus? This is the interesting point coming up here. It could easily be related because he's relying on other muscles to make up for the popliteus. And I do think, we can't do this.

No, but I do think that idea of, you can say, well, this injury is separate and this injury is separate. But again, as Adam Foote, when he was talking about the maintenance days, injuries stack up and what do you do? You start to compensate. You start to move your body in different ways. You're relying on other muscles, and that creates more injury risk. So it might be a completely different part of the body, but if you're just looking at Thatcher Demko in total as a hockey player, I think it's kind of fair to look at this and say, these aren't like freak separate. injuries. This is all part and parcel of a goalie playing a really demanding position who has dealt with a ton of injuries and they're all stacking up. Yeah. I mean, and that's why I was trying

to simplify it at the beginning of this. Like there's two ways this could have gone is that they could manage his health or they couldn't. Really, that's all it comes down to. You can either try and keep them healthy or despite your best advances and plans and ideas, it just doesn't work. And that happens sometimes, especially as you point out, with a position that is physically taxing. The issue is is that this was a major part of the everything needs to go right plan. Yes. You know? Going into the year a playoff spot or the goal of a playoff spot was predicated

on them having one of the best goalie tammoms in the NHL. Well that hasn't even come close through the first 18 games. Keyword tandem. Not even close. They haven't really worked in tandem. You know? and outside of a few really great games from Demko at the beginning of the year, the goal tending hasn't been anywhere near the top of the NHL. So that hasn't been close. And now it's not a tandem anymore for the next two to three weeks, right?

Nobody on their bingo card had Yuri Patera playing before game 20. And it's probably going to happen. And if not, it's going to happen real close to game 20. So that's a bit of a problem. Again, just to run through the schedule here. So if we start the two to three week clock from last night, that would take him out at least until November 25th. The Canucks have five games in that stretch,

of course, starting with the three games and four nights on the road on Friday, and then two home games after that. So that two weeks would be November 25th. They play November 26 in Anaheim. That's the start of three games and four nights. And then they have a fourth game on that road trip on the Tuesday. That would be exactly three weeks, December 2nd.

If I had to bet right now, I would bet that second road trip from late November to the 2nd of December, you're probably not seeing Thatcher Dempco. Again, that's just a guess. That would be the end of the three week timeline. Then they have a couple of days off and then they're back home for a back-to-back set against Utah and Minnesota. So if I had to guess right now, December 5th, Friday, December 5th seems like based on this

timeline, a good bet. Now, as lots of people have texted in, what do timelines mean coming from the Canucks? we've heard a lot of vague ones a lot of things get shifted guys go for maintenance to day to day to week to week to kind of unheard of or unseen from for a long time so who knows if the timeline holds if it does I think you're looking at probably December 5th that's nine games at that point the Canucksville played 27 games that's a third of the season so we talked about it earlier right before we even had the update about Thatcher Dempco you got to you got to get hot you can't just keep treading water and calling into success into December. So now you're in a position where over the next nine games, you have to not just stay at 500, ideally surge past that

and you're probably going to have to do without the services of Thatcher Demko. Okay, we need to pivot now to one to watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V. The powers of the one to watch took a hit last night as Archdee Baines failed to find the score sheet despite being anointed the one to watch on Tuesday morning show. However,

we move on. no Canucks game tonight, so we have to go across, I'll go across the National Hockey League anyway. I think I'm going to turn my attention to the Edmonton Oilers Philadelphia Flyers game from Philadelphia, and tonight's limitless AV-1 to watch will be Matt Vei Mitchcoff. So if you haven't been paying attention, Mitchcoff has been the main character for the Philadelphia Flyers

over the last 72 hours with just three goals in 15 games this year. It has been a slow start for Mitchcoff under new head coach, Rick Talkett. That was already caused for some consternation that was added to over the weekend when following a game against Ottawa, a 3-2-O-T loss. Sean Coutheria had some very interesting remarks about Mitchcoff, who looked like he had some jump in that game against Ottawa. And then Cotruria had a very sobering analysis of where Mitchcoff's game was at, suggesting that he needs to stop cheating as much as he does, that he needs to contribute in other ways other than just scoring goals. and he wasn't even scoring goals, suggesting that Kachari thought he might not be contributing at all. Now, those comments were kind of taken out of context. There was a much longer Q&A with reporters in which Kuturier was complimentary of the young player.

But for as young and as talented as Mitchkoff is, and is polarizing, and he's been this year, every game becomes one to watch for him. But tonight, with a big game coming in, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, be very curious to see what Mitchcoff does after the remarks made by his teammate, Sean Kucurier. That is the one to watch, brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces.

Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at LimitlessAV.C.A.C. We're at the midway point of the show. 90 minutes in the books, 90 minutes still to go. Coming up on the other side of the break, Parker Burgess is going to join the program. Head coach of the Vancouver Giants, that's coming up next on the Halford & Brough show,

featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet, Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Grants. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Cameron Schmidt, is he the top skill from the dub in the last year's NHL draft? Absolutely. There's always a couple smaller players that I really started to gravitate towards every year in the draft. And Cameron Schmidt was one of those last year.

734 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough featuring Jamie Dodds, Sportsnet 650. So because we ran short with Frank due to technical difficulties, we thought, hey, why not give a little more Frank to the listeners? That was Frank Sarvelli on a recent episode of Frankly Hockey on Victory Plus talking about Vancouver Giants winger Cameron Schmidt. When was he taken to the draft, guys?

We had a debate about this during the break. Third round. Third round, 94th overall. So Jamie Dodd was right. You thought it was a second round pick. Well, he should have gone on the first round. You're fool. I was here thinking he's a first round talent all the way.

If they were to redo the draft, at least according to frankly hockey, maybe a first round pick. We will be talking to Vancouver Giants head coach Parker Burgess in just a moment here. You can talk about Cameron Schmidt and a whole bunch of other things on the Halford & Brough show. Before we do that, though, some business to attend to. Halford in Breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt. into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com.

We are in hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Our two is brought to by Jason Hominoch at jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage to the phone lines we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, Parker Burgess here on the Halford

and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Parker. How are you? I'm good, guys. How are you this morning? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. You know, we weren't going to start with Cameron Schmidt, but we just played the audio there. And he's off to a pretty good start for your team thus far. Tell the listeners that might not be all that familiar with his game.

Third-round pick, 94th overall, by Dallas, who does a great job of mining sort of mid-to-late-round picks for talent. Cameron Schmidt, 18 years old, really putting up the points for you guys this year. What has Dallas got on their hands with Cameron Schmidt? Yeah, I think what pops off the page, when you first come see him play is obviously he's extremely dynamic offensively he can skate he's got a very

unique like skill set with his stick just his creativity and tight spaces being able to make plays he can shoot it so the offensive piece is kind of I think what pops off to you when you first see him play but the thing that I've

seen him grow you know even early on in this season is just his awareness that is play with the puck and the little habits and details that go into it, you know, have a significant impact on our team and on the game. And he kind of worked his way onto the penalty kill, playing in a few different situations than maybe he did last year. So, again, just a young player who's kind of rounding out, you know,

all the little areas of his game. And I think for a kid like that, go into a development camp down in Dallas, working with those guys, their development coaches directly and getting a better understanding of, you know, what he's going to need to do when he gets to the pro level and how he can kind of build those things into his game while he's still here in juniors. Parker, I know you guys are coming off a pretty hard fought

2-0 loss against Everett on Monday, and you had a really strong stretch of your season 6-0-1, now three straight losses, and it kind of feels like that's just the way it is in the WHL right now. The standings are so tight in the Western Conference. What have you seen from a process standpoint

from your team so far this year and in the last little bit as well? Yeah, I think we've really grown here. You know, the start, we were in Saskatchewan for a couple weeks there, and we have a brand new coaching staff, and so the guys are kind of getting to know and become more familiar with us.

We're becoming more familiar with our team, what our strengths are, or maybe the areas we have to improve. And so I'm seeing a lot of growth, and I think you saw that from a result standpoint, point when we went on that nice little run there. And then we had a trip down to Tri-City in Seattle and different environments, different styles of teams in terms of how they play and identities and things like that

when you go down to the States. And I didn't think we were great last weekend. You know, we had pockets where I liked our game, but not ultimately enough to get the results. And then we played a really good Everett team here on Monday night. And it was a one-nothing game. and I would say arguably one of our better ones all season. We had our chances and our opportunities. We missed a few nets and a few odd manna rushes and things like that.

But I'm definitely seeing some growth and steps in the right direction. Ryan Lynn, I mean, I know we talk about him every time with your team, but what he's doing at age 17, leading all WHL defensemen in scoring already 22 points in 20 games. And I know his defensive play has come a long ways. as well. How impressed have you been with what Ryan Lynn has done so far for your team? Yeah, tremendously impressed. I mean, I think

every single day you work with them, it's just a real pleasure from a coach's standpoint. And again, a kid that, you know, you see he's leading the league in defense and scoring, and I think, you know, the fans that come to the building see his skating ability, plays with his head

up, he can shoot the puck, he's dynamic offensively, but this is one of the best defenders that I've seen or worked with. You know, he closes quickly. He's got a great stick. He enjoys the physical side of the game. Like, he's not afraid to finish his checks and box guys out.

He'll throw a big check. He kind of reminds me of a young Drew Doughty, you know, where he can contribute offensively, but he's also, he's got such a passion for defending, and he's involved in every play in all three zones, and he just makes it really hard for us not to put him on the ice as much as possible. but he's been a pleasure to work with. Yeah, and as you said, you want him out there as much as possible. I know he's going to get a chance to play for Team CHL at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge as well.

And just, I mean, you dropped a pretty weighty comparison there with Drew Dowdy. And I think a lot of us have been focused on Ryan Lynn and the offensive side of his game. But as you said, there's a real defensive responsibility there as well. It is, tell us a little bit more just about what he does on that end and how he is able to be so, successful as a defender? Well, I think a lot of things. Like, one, he's, you know, I wouldn't, you hear some of the buzz, like, oh, he's an undersized defense, but he's a big kid with, like, a really good frame.

And I think he's put on a lot of muscles since his 16-year-old year and just strikes me as a kid with his work ethic off the ice and in the gym. Like, he's going to continue to get, you know, more physically strong and he's going to get thicker, but I think for him, it starts with his IQ, like he makes really, really strong reads. He very rarely finds himself out of position. He's a tremendous skater and not only like north-south, but his edge work, his ability to close, and then his thick detail, and then the, kind of like I mentioned, his ability and willingness to be physical, you know, there's times in a game where you think maybe somebody has an insight.

track on them or, you know, he's not able to match their speed. And kind of with the combination of the speed, the stick, and the physicality, there's not a lot of room where now he's at a deficit. You know, if you got a good stick and you have a willingness to be physical, but you can't skate and you can't close, you know, there's a weakness that other teams forwards are going to be able to expose. But I just think the skating ability, his stick detail, his IQ, and then his willingness to be physical and finish on guys.

Not only is he a tremendous offensive player, but I think he's an elite defender. Parker, before we let you go, let's set up this weekend. Saturday, 7 o'clock Langley Events Center, the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. We will be giving away tickets tomorrow, so set up what our lucky winner will be seeing this weekend at the LEC.

Yeah, I think it's going to be Edmonton's, I believe, first place there in the Eastern Conference. They're a very, very good team, well-built, veteran players they have some high-end talent and you know I think for us we've gone up against some really good teams with medicine hat Prince George beat both of them we had a really good showing against Everett and our team seems to kind of rise to the challenge

when we're facing those opponents that are towards the top of the standing table so it should be a really good game it's our only one this weekend so we have a few days to prepare for it so it should be a good matchup Parker thank you very much for taking the time to do this today we really appreciate it. Best of luck this weekend. We'll do this again soon. For sure. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. We appreciate it as well. That's Parker Burgess head coach of the WHL's Vancouver Giants here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, as you heard during that call, we will be giving away tickets tomorrow morning.

A pair of tickets to see the Giants and Edmonton play this Saturday at the Langley Events Center. Okay, we've got a second update on the Thatcher-Demco health situation. And this one, courtesy Intrepid Canucks insider Rick Dollywell from the Donnie and Dolly Show on Czech TV. Rick took to Twitter and wrote the following, quote, Thatcher Demko will be out, but needs to be re-evaluated today and tomorrow for a proper timeline. His injury last night was unrelated to past energies, end quote. So that is corroborating, dare I say confirming Frank's initial reporting that whatever happened last night, to Thatcher Demko had nothing to do with one, the original Popliteous injury, and then two, whatever kept him out over the course of the weekend against Colorado and Columbus.

Timeline, Rick says, still needs to be determined. In case you missed the hit earlier, we also have the video up on social media right now. Frank said two to three weeks for Demko will be out of the lineup for the Vancouver Canucks. This Thatcher Dempco storyline on conversation, it feels like a very interesting psychological experiment and what you consider positive or negative, right? So it's unrelated. Okay, is that good or bad? This is a new development.

Is that good or bad? And even Frank Saravale when he came on and it's a two to three week timeline. And he framed that as some maybe positive news. Hey, that's two to three weeks. That's not bad. Could be two to three months. Some people look at it in a different way. This latest one.

So Rick Dolly will not explicitly saying Frank is wrong, but saying, oh, hold your horses a little bit here. He needs to be re-evaluated today and tomorrow. So two days of reevaluation for Thatcher Dempco coming. up per Rick Dollywell for a Thatcher Dempco, is that better than what Frank reported or worse from a Canucks perspective? Does this, if you're listening right now and you heard two to three weeks from Frank and now Rick Dollywell saying, no, no, no timeline yet. He needs to be re-evaluated for a proper timeline. Is that, does that make you feel more or less optimistic about the health of Thatcher Dempco? I can't decide. I can't, yeah. I hate saying I'm in the middle because

that's not good sports talk radio whatsoever. But I support. suppose if you're going to go glass half empty, as we are want to do here on Sportsnet 650, the concern would be that he goes and gets evaluated today and tomorrow. It's worse than two to three weeks than it is two to three months. Removing that part of it and without getting too bogged down in the minutia of reporting. Because again, the guy got hurt last night. I bet he isn't even 100% sure of exactly what's wrong.

And that's why there's all these medical images and everything else that need to be done first. Big picture. If you want to look at some definitive, like, takes or opinions, this is not good. This is not good. Thanks, Doc. Even if it's a minor injury, it's not good because, one, it's another one. It's a different injury, but it's another one. And two, it totally undermines one of the tenets of this season's success, which was a healthy

Demco is going to be a major part of what we think will be one of the NHL's best goalie tammums. Go look at the numbers. Like it doesn't bear out that way. And when you're talking about keeping your head above water, like the Canucks are doing through this

injury spell, I think one of the things inherent of that was, well, on every night, we're going to have a good goalie in that. We're going to have a guy that we have faith in, that we have confidence in, and someone that's got us, that's going to give us a chance to go out and get points on a nightly basis, right?

Now that's gone because you can't count on Demko in the short term. And in the long term, you've got to have major concerns that he's going to have the ability to stay healthy. Because honestly, at this point, whether it's a recurrence of a previous injury or a brand new one, one thing is constant. He's hurt a lot. You brought up the Philippeal comparison. I think it's totally viable and valid to bring up.

totally different circumstances, totally different injuries, and totally different recovery plans. But one thing remains the same. There was a big bet made organizationally on someone that over the last couple years has had an inability to stay in the lineup. That's it. And when you have fine lines and fine margins, making risks and if you want to call them calculated or otherwise,

but let's say making a calculated risk on someone that more often than not can't stay healthy, this is the byproduct. This is what happens. 18 games into the season where all of a sudden now you're looking at a goal league tandem of Kevin Lankin and Yuri Patera

and why you're looking at a 2C role that's at times been filled by Lucas Reichel who by the way I'm not sure can play at least not as a 2C you know? I'm pretty sure about that last part you know I'm not sure he can do it I think there was a

he's entering the what would you say you do here category you really you're telling me trade for a winger who's not getting minutes in Chicago and make him your 2C and it's not working out? Interesting. Everyone should have seen it coming in again. Optimism was like, maybe it'll work out here. But I think we're beginning to see why Reichael couldn't get

minutes in Chicago. And I think his decreased number of shifts in ice time in the last two or three third periods is symbolic of a coaching staff that's seeing it as well. And understanding that when we need something to happen,

it can't be Reichel who's playing the pivot in those moments, it's got to be someone else. But anyway, back to the bigger picture. So when we, there's some things to be. When we talk about the bets that this management team made coming into the season, we all understand the stakes of this season, right? Have a really good season. Forget about last year.

Convince Quinn Hughes to stay. Whatever bar exists for that, we don't know. We don't know Quinn Hughes's mind. But we all understand that's the primary goal of this season. You mentioned Philippeal, despite the known injury issues, they decided, or whether whether they couldn't get a deal done for another center or if they decided the prices were too high, whatever the case is, they went into this

season with Philippeitel as the number two center. We've seen how that worked out. Thatcher Dempco, so the last three years before this one for Thatcher Dempco, he played 23 games last year, had a save percentage below 900. The year before that, of course he was fantastic, played

51 games, but got injured late in the season, came back, left game one of the playoffs, or got injured after game one of the playoffs. So really good numbers, but also injuries at the end of the season that made it so he wasn't available for the playoffs. The year before that, 32 games, 901, save percentage. That's three years in a row where either his availability at the most important time of the season was not available, or his number of games played and performance was severely impacted by injuries.

Now, I do want to say, hold on. Keep going. And yet, they didn't just, bet that Thatcher Dempco would be good this year to help convince Quinn Hughes. They also made the further bet on signing him to an extension as soon as he was eligible a year out to a deal

that is going to pay him $8.5 million for three years that kicks in next year. And I think when you look back at his injury history, that's the biggest question. It's not just relying on him for this year. Because I could understand that. Like, hey, we know how good he is when he's healthy. We're going to roll the dice. We've got Kevin Lankin.

Thatcher Demko going to his UFA year, he's going to be motivated, all that, we're going to roll the dice. Making an additional bet on, you know what, we got to lock this guy up now before we see how his body responds to this latest injury riddled year, that bet is looking pretty tough right now. Okay, so I, and I did want to point out, like, there is a rash of injuries. I don't want to call it like an epidemic or anything, but if you go around the league right now, the Canucks are not alone in this boat. I know some people probably think that the Canucks are the most injured. team in the National Hockey League. It's just not the case. It's the condensed schedule, isn't it?

Every time I see the injury prop up, I'm like, man, these teams are suffering from this condensed schedule. If you, okay, if you look at Toronto Maple Leafs right now, for example, out of the lineup currently, Austin Matthews, Anthony Stollers, Scott Lotton, Joseph Wall, Chris Tanev. It's five really big contributors to that team. Go look at the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ryan McDonough, Victor Headman, Anthony Sorrelli, Nick Paul.

Those are big names like big name players for that. that team. Winnipeg had a bunch of injuries going into last night. They got a couple of guys back. You can go through, I mean, I know we've already gone down the list of the Florida Panthers, for example, and the amount of guys out of their lineup. Pittsburgh gets off to this great start this season. What happens? Achari, Brazo, Jari, Raquel, they all get hurt. And now all of a sudden, they've kind of gone back to being closer to a 500 team. There are teams around the league that are extremely banged up right now. So the Canucks are in that boat to where you say, you know, it's unfortunate, but it's a trend around the league, just pay attention to how

other teams are dealing with their injuries and how they are able to keep their heads above water. Because it's instructive for what the connects are going to need to do, because two of the guys that are hurt are key focal points of this team. Like, there's no other way around it. In Demko, you've got your best goalie, and in Heidel, you've got your second line center. Those are tough losses and this is a team that even prior to having those guys hurt was on thin ice whether they'd be a playoff team or not we got another update oh from rick dollywell who tweeted again there's a second rick dollywell tweet and it says early word it sounds like it's a groin injury for dempco i have no idea what to make of that laddie what do you think uh not good if well

we saw what happened last night it's all interconnected to when you're having groin problems for goalie, it generally means hip problems. Oh, my groin. That also, A-Dog has to come in with the famous quote. The hip bones connected to the groin bone. But the hip bone is very closely tied to groin injuries, and that's a red flag. That's not good.

All right. Don't like that. There you go. It's a red flag, says Laddie. Well, that's fine. Add it to the pile of red flags we've got going here. Yeah. So now if you... I'm so tired, boss. I'm so tired. My will to live is being slowly sucked out of...

So I thought you 20 games. A couple truths. Lankin is about to inherit a pretty heavy workload over the next couple weeks. I would suggest, and I guess at some point they are going to have to play Patera. So we'll get to see what that looks like. And I, what? He's played NHL games before. You guys make it sound like this is like the end of the world.

Patera is going to get into a game. I would suggest, Greg, I would suggest that what they did with Lankin on over the weekend where they played him in back-to-backs on Saturday and Sunday is an organization. nod to we trust Kevin Lankinen and we maybe don't necessarily trust Patera just yet. Don't be Tatarified. Just give him a shot. Give him a shot. So I mean, I'm with you. Other teams have gone down this road and played a third goalie already this year, right? It's not unheard of. I think we were talking about the guy in Vegas. What's his name? Linbom. Linbom. They're playing Schmead. You know, Spencer Martin played how many games for this team a number of years? How did it go? Yeah. That was not the

example. Better than Spencer Martin. I will go out on a limb and say that right now. There are worse things than a Yuri Patera. You might be right, but I think Mike's point is a good one. If they had any sort of confidence in him to be an NHL goalie, they would have played him in the back-to-back. That's what you do. If you have a goalie on your roster, but you think is a passable NHL goalie,

you play them in a back-to-back scenario. They chose not to do that. Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The Canucks conversation continues on the other side. to Randi Pchanda. He was on the call last night for the Vancouver Connect's 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena.

We'll talk to Randeep about that in about seven minutes time, I would say. And then at 8.30, we're going to do what we learns. We're going to do ours. You're going to do yours. You need to get them in. Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650, 650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know.

Hashtag it, WWL. It's your chance to be on the radio. It's all coming up in the final hour of the program. You're listening to the Halford-enbrough show with Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet, 650.