The Vancouver Canucks announced earlier on Tuesday that the club has recalled prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki from AHL Abbotsford. And this might have been the best time for them to do so.

Since the 4 Nations Face-off break, the Canucks have struggled to find the back of the net. They have scored 10 goals in the five games since returning to action: one against the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Hockey Club, two against the Anaheim Ducks, and three against the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken.

Those 10 goals put them dead last in goal-scoring since the break, two behind the Ottawa Senators, who have played one fewer game. While the Canucks aren’t scoring, they aren’t keeping the puck out of their net, either, allowing 3.6 goals against (18) over the span. This has resulted in just one win, and now they currently sit on the outside looking in of the playoffs, trailing the Calgary Flames by one point with a game in hand.

Here are your goal scorers through those five games: Jake DeBrusk (x2), Conor Garland (x2), Pius Suter (x2), Nils Höglander (x1), Tyler Myers (x1), Filip Chytil (x1) and Dakota Joshua (x1) are your Canucks goalscorers since the break.

Now, let’s look at the Canucks’ goal scorers on the season: DeBrusk (21), Brock Boeser (18), Garland (16), Suter (16), Quinn Hughes (14), Kiefer Sherwood (13) and Elias Pettersson (11) – Filip Chytil is up at 13 on the year, but only with two in Vancouver.

With their leading scorer having only 21 goals, that is the third fewest across the entire league. Only the Kraken’s Jaden Schwartz (19) and the Ducks’ Frank Vatrano (18) have fewer.

The Canucks are dying for a consistent goal scorer this year. Why can’t that be Jonathan Lekkerimäki?

He’s been a scoring machine down in Abbotsford, especially lately. The Swedish sniper has goals in seven of his last 11 games, adding four assists over that span to put him at a point-per-game. Not just that, but his shot volume is through the roof. Over his last eight games, Lekkerimäki has registered three-plus shots in six games, registering five or more in three of those games.

Another area where Lekkerimäki can help this team is the power play. Since the JT Miller trade, they have lacked that threat coming down the half-wall. With Pettersson hesitant to unleash his shot from that spot, having Lekkerimäki’s shot as a weapon can hopefully help generate more with the man advantage. He lined up on a unit with Boeser, DeBrusk, Chytil and Tyler Myers in yesterday’s practice.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Brock Boeser. We aren’t anticipating that he gets traded by Friday’s Trade Deadline as it seems this regime wants to contend for the playoffs – but everything can change with a phone call. However, if he does, the Canucks will lack a true sniper. The club might even be now, considering he has just two goals since January 25 (13 games).

And at just 20 years old, Lekkerimäki is the Canucks’ sniper of the future. It might be time now for him to take those reigns and run away with it – whether Boeser is moved or not.

Lekkerimäki is expected to make his return to the Canucks lineup Wednesday night against the Ducks, where he will skate on a line with two of the newer and fastest Canucks, Drew O’Connor and Filip Chytil.