When one of the league’s leading penalty minute accumulators takes out one of the league’s best goal-scorers and people, there’s no silver lining to be found. It’s just a bad situation.

Such is the case for the Vancouver Canucks after Thursday’s win against the Los Angeles Kings was marred by a late, blindside headshot delivered by Tanner Jeannot to an unsuspecting Brock Boeser, knocking both from the game – Boeser with a likely injury, and Jeannot with a five-minute major and match penalty.

And as far as the Canucks’ perspective goes, that just sucks. As of this Friday morning writing, we don’t yet know the extent of Boeser’s injury, or how much time he will miss beyond the final two periods of Thursday’s game. But it is pretty safe to assume that he’ll miss at least some time, and that’s not good for a team that has struggled to generate offence at the same rate as last season.

This, for a player who just hasn’t ever been able to catch a consistent break throughout his NHL career.

This isn’t a situation to look on the bright side of, but instead just a situation to make the best of.

And if Boeser is going to miss even a few games, the way to make the best of his injury is to use his absence as an opportunity to give a well-earned, short-term, low-stakes audition to one Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

Should Boeser miss even the Canucks’ next scheduled game on Saturday against Edmonton, and assuming that Dakota Joshua is not yet ready to enter the lineup, the Canucks will need to recall another forward. Right now, following Nils Åman’s waiving and Arshdeep Bains’ demotion last week, they’re down to just 12, including Boeser.

There’s little doubt that what the Canucks would miss most from Boeser, among other things, is his goal-scoring ability. There’s also little doubt that the call-up who offers the most potential goal-scoring prowess, and that’s Lekkerimäki.

That was probably true based just on Lekkerimäki’s reputation as a prospect coming into the 2024/25 campaign. But what he’s done in Abbotsford has absolutely sealed the deal.

After missing some of the early going with what appeared to be a mysterious ailment, Lekkerimäki has not missed a beat.

In seven games with the Abbotsford Canucks, Lekkerimäki leads the team with five goals and is tied for the team lead in points with seven. He’s the only Abbotsford player at a point-per-game or greater save for Bains (three points in one game) and Erik Brännström (three points in two games).

It’s important to remember that, despite a brief AHL showcase last year, Lekkerimäki is still a rookie on North American ice. As of now, he ranks first in goals-per-game not just among AHL rookies, but among all AHL players who have played as many games as he has. He’s also fourth in points-per-game among rookies, specifically.

In other words, Lekkerimäki’s season is off to about as good a start as anyone could have reasonably hoped for. Which makes it the perfect time to see how much of that success might be translatable to the next level, at least in the short-term.

Calling up  Lekkerimäki would not be a cap complication. As we said at the outset, if Boeser misses time and Joshua is not ready to go, they straight-up need to make a forward recall. And even with Joshua, Thatcher Demko, Derek Forbort, and now potentially Boeser all out with injury, the Canucks still have more than $1 million in available cap space with which to make that recall.

We talked in the summer about the possible complications brought on by Lekkerimäki’s considerable performance bonuses, but because the Canucks have thus far managed to avoid using LTIR relief space and stayed genuinely below the cap, that’s no longer a factor for them. So long as they remain under the cap ceiling, Lekkerimäki’s bonuses will only hit the cap as they are actually earned. For now, when he gets called up, he arrives with just that base $918,333 cap hit, which the Canucks can easily accommodate.

That remains the case even when Joshua returns, too, as Joshua’s cap hit is already counting against the books.

As a natural right wing, Lekkerimäki would presumably slide right into Boeser’s spot on JT Miller’s wing, and hopefully see some of Boeser’s time on the power play, too.

Sure, there are other options to fill that spot. There are options already on the roster, like Daniel Sprong or Nils Höglander. But one could argue that they haven’t done enough to earn that promotion. Kiefer Sherwood has, but he’s having fine success where he is right now. The team could always just recall Bains again and put him into that role, but that’s not doing much to replace Boeser’s talents.

Lekkerimäki offers the best blend of genuine replacement of talent and a player who has done enough to earn this shot.

The best thing about this recall might be it’s built-in short-term, low-stakes nature. Perhaps we’re being hopeful in our assumptions here, but Boeser will ideally not miss that much time. And when he returns, there’s no real ambiguity about whether he’ll return to Miller’s wing. That spot is Boeser’s; not to lose, but to keep.

So, no matter how well Lekkerimäki plays there, it’s a part-time gig. The stakes are low. That could take a lot of the pressure off his NHL debut and allow him to just focus on playing his game.

Sheltering the team’s top forward prospect by allowing him to skate his first NHL minutes alongside Miller is just an added pressure-reducing bonus.

We may be putting the cart ahead of the horse here. It’s possible that Boeser only misses a game or two, and in that case the team might just roll with the pre-established plan of eventually bringing Bains back up and saving Lekkerimäki for another day.

But if the unfortunate circumstance of a lengthier Boeser absence comes to pass, at the very least there is a clear-cut way the team can make the most of the situation. And that’s by recalling Lekkerimäki and seeing what he can do with a top-six audition.