Friday night's Vancouver Canucks game against the Columbus Blue Jackets will see the return of Thatcher Demko.
Sort of.
The Vezina finalist hasn't played a game since Game 1 against the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Barring disaster, he also won't play in Friday night's game.
He will, however, be on the bench as the backup, which is a significant step for Demko. It's been a long journey rehabbing his bizarre popliteus injury and getting activated off the Injured Reserve means he and his doctors feel he's ready to play again.
Demko said he wanted to put his knee "through hell" before returning to the lineup, so this means he's been to hell and back and come out unscathed. That's worth some excitement even if he won't actually be in the Canucks' net against the Blue Jackets.
Speaking of the Blue Jackets, they have been absolutely dreadful away from home ice. They have a 3-8-2 record on the road, completely undoing their sparkling 8-3-1 record at home.
How will they match up against the Canucks, who have been dreadful at home? The Canucks are 3-5-3 on home ice this season, only keeping their heads above water in the Pacific Division because of their incredible 10-2-1 record on the road.
Something's got to give in this game. Will the Canucks figure out how to win at home again or will the Blue Jackets sort out their road woes?
If you're planning on cheering on Demko and the Canucks in person, be aware of the Taylor Swift concert taking place next door and plan accordingly.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
There will be one change to the Canucks' on-ice lineup, though not in terms of personnel. All the players will remain the same but expect the fourth line to look slightly different, with Max Sasson playing at centre instead of Aatu Räty.
Mind you, Räty will likely still take the bulk of the faceoffs. With J.T. Miller still away from the team, Räty is the only Canucks centre above 50% in the faceoff circle.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
The Canucks' lineup won't feature Jonathan Lekkerimäki or Cole McWard, despite them being called up on Thursday. That's because the call-up was strictly salary cap related and they were returned to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL on Friday morning.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen. It will be interesting to see how the Canucks split the netminding duties between Demko and Lankinen going forward, as Lankinen essentially saved the season with his performance through the first quarter. At the very least, he should be able to give Demko more rest.
Columbus Blue Jackets projected lines
The Blue Jackets have been getting strong performances from the top of their lineup, with Kirill Marchenko tallying 10 goals and 24 points in 25 games and Sean Monahan following right behind him with 8 goals and 22 points. Then there's Kent Johnson, the team's lone point-per-game forward, who has 6 goals and 12 points in 11 games.
The player to really watch out for is Zach Werenski, who is one of just three defencemen currently leading their teams in scoring with Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators and, of course, Quinn Hughes.
Here are the Blue Jackets projected lines:
James van Riemsdyk - Sean Monahan - Kent Johnson
Dmitri Voronkov - Adam Fantilli - Kirill Marchenko
Zach Aston-Reese - Cole Sillinger - Mathieu Oliver
Sean Kuraly - Justin Danforth - Kevin Labanc
Zach Werenski - Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov - Damon Severson
Jake Christiansen - Jordan Harris
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
James van Riemsdyk returns to the lineup on the top line after he was a healthy scratch on Thursday. The Blue Jackets have further switched up the lines by moving Kent Johnson to the top line alongside Sean Monahan.
The Blue Jackets' starting goaltender is expected to be Elvis Merzlikins as Daniil Tarasov started on Thursday night. Merzlikins has been mediocre overall this season, with an .894 save percentage and 3.00 goals against average, but he's also 6-1-1 in his last eight starts.
