Thatcher Demko Ready to Battle Braden Holtby for Starter Minutes

Thatcher Demko 'arrived' on the scene for the Vancouver Canucks during last year's playoff performance for the ages and he's hoping to ride this momentum into next season. 

The Canucks let Jacob Markstrom go, which opened the door briefly for Demko to be the man in Vancouver, however the Canucks turned around and signed Stanley Cup champion, Braden Holtby to a two-year deal. 

Demko isn't letting the competition bother him and he's ready to have a monster season for the Canucks. Demko met with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre and had this to say:

I think last year was a good year for me to go through some ups and downs and learn a little bit more about what it's like to be (in the NHL) full time. 

I feel really confident going into this year. I'm right where I want to be in my career right now. I think there's a lot on the table, and I'm just really excited to get the opportunity (to) take that next step. I want to be in Vancouver as long as I can. I want to be the guy. This is the next step in that direction.

When that second opportunity came around in the playoffs, it was like: OK, I've been in this situation before. I learned a ton the first time around and now these games are even bigger. I was able to kind of settle in and just be a lot more confident in myself after learning from my failures. I knew the second time around, I wasn't going to make the same mistakes.

The soon-to-be 25-year-old is a former 2nd-round of the Canucks and is in the last year of his contract paying him just over $1,000,000. A steal of a deal considering in four playoff games last season he posted a 0.64 goals against average and a .985 save percentage.

Look for Demko and Holtby to split the minutes for head coach Travis Green and the Canucks and whoever is the hot hand heading into the playoffs, will be given the crease.

Photo credit:  Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire