The Philadelphia Flyers concluded the 2024-25 season with the league worst save percentage for the second year in a row. There’s plenty of talk about fixing the power play or center depth or defense, but all is for naught if they don’t fix the goaltending first. The free agent pool is more or less worthless this year, so any upgrade is going to have to come via trade.
Enter Thatcher Demko. The 29-year-old Vancouver Canuck is entering the last year of his current contract that pays him $5 million a season. He finished the 2024-25 season with just 23 games played along with a 2.90 goals against average and .889 save percentage on a Canucks squad that spiraled out of control.
So should the Flyers consider adding Demko this summer? Let’s weigh some pros and cons!
Pros
Demko is good
After the last few years of league worst save percentages, the Flyers could desperately use a goalie that is capable of stopping a puck every now and again. He was the runner-up for the Vezina in 2023-24, had a top ten finish back in 2021-22 and has a career 2.80 goals against average and .910 save percentage. His lackluster numbers in 2024-25 are by far the anomaly of his career, so they shouldn’t be too discouraging when it comes to what he’ll bring to the table next season.
He’s BFFs with Rick Tocchet
Despite the lackluster on-ice results during Tocchet’s time in Vancouver, multiple players have sung his praises like Demko and captain Quinn Hughes. Demko does not have trade protection, so it’s not like they need to convince him to be sent to Philly, but it could make the transition to a new team across the continent much easier if he’s got the immediate support from a familiar face.
Trade package
Trading their top goalies would indicates that the Canucks find themselves in a bit of a retool, and when it comes to trade packages, the Flyers are best served to craft a trade with a team that may not necessarily be looking for main roster pieces, but rather accumulating future picks and prospects. It may not be cheap, but they’ve got 11 picks in 2025 and eight total picks in the first three round in 2026 and 2027 as well, plus a barrage of rookie skaters to throw in as well. They could make a sizable and not even feel it.
Cons
Injuries
Demko is one of the best goalies in the league when he’s healthy. But the “when he’s healthy” part is a big piece of the puzzle here. He only played 23 games in 2024-25 after missing the start of the season thanks to offseason surgery stemming from an injury during last season’s playoffs. He also missed over a month with a lower body injury from early February to late March.
He played 64 games in 2021-22 and 51 games in 2023-24 (where he was a Vezina finalist) but beyond that hasn’t appeared in more than 35 games in four other seasons in the NHL.
Let’s say the Flyers trade Sam Ersson and keep Fedotov as the backup and Demko goes on to miss half the season with injuries. Fedotov and *insert random third stringer here* as a duo may collectively be worse in net than they’ve been the last few seasons.
His contract… or lack thereof
Demko is a unrestricted free agent in 2026. Trading for a pending UFA without a contract in place, particularly when it’s this high-profile trade, is risky business. If they give up two or three big assets to make a deal happen and Demko walks in 2026, that’s all kinds of bad news.
To give the Flyers the benefit of the doubt, they probably wouldn’t pull the trigger without some kind of extension in place. But… it’s the Flyers, you always have to take the dumbest possible route in consideration.
Conclusion
Entering the 2025 offseason, there have been three notable names when it comes to the goalie rumors- Thatcher Demko, Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen and John Gibson. They’ve all got their pros and cons.
Luukkonen has the worst stats, but is younger and under contract until 2029. Plus, the theory that he could be better away from the Buffalo curse is solid as well.
Gibson, the oldest of the bunch, is about to turn 32 and only has two years left on his deal. His numbers are fine on a very bad ducks teams and (besides 2024-25) has largely remained consistent when it comes to playing 50+ games.
And Demko is the best of the three statically but has an injury history is a pending free agent next summer.
The interest in Demko would thoroughly depend on what Vancouver would be looking for in a trade. There’s always a playoff team that is looking for a goalie, so it’s not like the Flyers could swoop in and pick this guy up cheap enough where the risk is low enough not to worry.
But as noted above if they deal Sam Ersson, which would probably be the case, and Demko goes on to miss a bunch of time with injury and Fedotov is left to fed for himself, they’re dead in the water before they even know what hit them.
They can’t make a huge trade or financial commitment to a guy that may not be a solution at all.
But when Demko is healthy there’s few in the league better than him. And that is an enticing ceiling for a team that needs a goaltender if they have any hope of changing their fate. Plus the Rick Tocchet connection is hard to ignore. It pretty much quadruples their chances of acquiring a player if one of the former Flyers in the front office can vouch for the guy.
So should the Flyers trade for Demko? The answer is a hearty ehhhhhhh.
If they can get Demko under contract and maybe flip Fedotov for a slightly more reliable backup just in case of injury to Demko, this becomes a far more palatable deal. But with his pending UFA status in 2026 and injury history and weak options already in the organization, they may be best served looking elsewhere for a new netminder for 2025-26.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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