A setback for the Kamloops Blazers as the club makes its way toward the playoffs.

GM Shaun Clouston confirming to Radio NL that Jakub Demek has had his start-date for the Blazers pushed back by around a month.

Clouston says the decision has been made by the Vegas Golden Knights, who hold Demek’s NHL rights.

“He’s a drafted player, and they want to push his timeline back,” Clouston told Jeff Andreas on the NL Morning News on Monday.  “Right now the date, unfortunately for Jakub, cause he’s pretty disappointed — and challenging for us — it’s been moved to February 20th.”

Clouston says the decision was made after Demek went down to the Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate in Henderson, Nevada for a week of conditioning after undergoing a review by his surgeon in Colorado in early January, who had originally given Vegas and Kamloops the late-January timeline.

“Unfortunately, he’s got a while,” lamented Clouston.  “He feels good, he looks good. I think it’s probably a situation where they really want to be safe.  They really want to take their time. Fortunately, our league goes til the end of march.”

The 6-foot-4 Slovak was acquired by the Blazers in mid-November from the Edmonton Oil Kings and was expected to be in the Kamloops line up this coming weekend.

The 19-year-old Demek has been skating with the Blazers during his rehab from shoulder surgery.

The power forward comes with a lot of upsides, including Memorial Cup experience.

He put up 54 points (20 goals and 34 assists) in 55 games with the Oil Kings last season.

He also finished third in team scoring with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 19 playoff games enroute to winning the WHL championship and had one assist in three Memorial Cup games last season.

If Demek returns as per schedule on February 20th, it would be against his former club, the Oil Kings, in Edmonton as part of the Blazers’ 6-game eastern road swing this season.

–With files from Jeff Andreas