Thatcher Demko is still questionable for the start of the season, and the Vancouver Canucks are running out of patience.
His hip surgery back in January wiped out the rest of last season. Now, heading into September, he's still labeled day-to-day.
Demko played just 20 games last season, going 6-11 with an .895 save percentage. That's a shell of the Vezina finalist Vancouver once had.
When healthy, nobody questions what he can be. The problem is nobody knows when healthy actually shows up.
Elias Pettersson has a different kind of question mark, and it might be just as damaging.
He finished with 51 points in 74 games last season, a minus-30 rating, and only six points over his final 10 games.
Six years ago he looked like a franchise centre. Now he looks like a $11.6 million question the Canucks can't stop asking.
A rebuild that can't trust its two biggest names
Vancouver finished dead last in the league, 32nd overall, at 25 wins, 49 losses and 8 in extra time.
They were outscored 316 to 216 on the year. That's not a rebuild hitting speed bumps. That's a full teardown.
New head coach Manny Malhotra takes over a roster where the two supposed cornerstones are the biggest variables on the ice.
Is that fair to Malhotra? Not really. But it's the job he signed up for in June.
Pettersson's power play numbers held up somewhat, four goals and 18 assists with the man advantage.
His minus-30 rating tells the real story, though. A player miscast as a top centre drags a defense down with him every shift.
Demko's $8.5 million cap hit is manageable if he plays. It's dead weight if the hip never fully cooperates.
Backup Nikita Tolopilo posted a .881 save percentage in relief last season, hardly the answer if Demko can't go.
Vancouver doesn't need either player to relive their best years. Demko doesn't need to be a Vezina finalist again.
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Pettersson doesn't need 102 points again either. The Canucks just need to know, night to night, what they're actually getting.
Right now, both answers stay locked behind an injury report and a stat line trending the wrong way.
Is Elias Pettersson still a franchise centre, or has that ship sailed?
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