It is starting to look as though the Vancouver Canucks’ push for a playoff spot at the end of the 2024/25 season is going to come up short.

They’re not quite out of it yet, and we’re not here to make any premature pronouncements of their demise, but Sunday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets put the Canucks six points back with just eight games left – and those odds are long any way you stack them.

But even if it ultimately proves less-than-successful, this stretch run has at least proved an entertaining one for the Canucks and their fans. And just because it doesn’t end in a postseason berth, doesn’t mean this run of play doesn’t have some meaning. For reasons outside of the playoffs themselves, the efforts the Canucks are making right now matter – at least for that “care factor” that captain Quinn Hughes recently referenced.

This stretch run may also really matter when it comes to determining the futures of four potentially-departing Canucks in particular.

Had you told someone at the start of this season that the Canucks would be making their playoff push with Pius Suter in the 1C position, well, they might have actually believed you, because that sounds a lot like classic Canucks luck. Getting them to believe that Suter was crushing it in the role, however, would take a lot more work.

Suter has a staggering 12 points in nine games since Filip Chytil exited the lineup and eight in four games since Elias Pettersson exited. That’s really quite something. The more ice-time and responsibility Suter is given, it seems, the more he scores. He’s now up to 22 goals and 42 points on the season, and this all bodes very well for a pending UFA about to hit a very limited forward market.

The Canucks are getting a crash-course in why it would be well worth their while to keep Suter around. At the same time, every other team in the league is gaining reason to consider Suter this summer if he hits free agency.

There are only a handful of even middle-six centres available as UFAs this offseason. Suter was probably going to get some silly offers even without this late run of success. But now, he’s shown that he can – at least temporarily – fill in as a genuine top-six centre. Combine that with his general reputation as a versatile veteran, and more than one GM is sure to convince themselves that Suter is their solution at 2C this summer, and pursue him accordingly.

It feels as though the Canucks might have missed their window to extend Suter on reasonable terms. And it also feels like all this production is doing a lot to ensure that Suter receives a very lucrative contract in the near future, albeit elsewhere.

Everything we’ve said about Suter could basically be applied to Derek Forbort, albeit on a smaller scale. He’s been a centrepiece of the penalty killing unit that has quietly fueled the Canucks’ resurgence. He stepped up big time in Hughes’ absence, but then continued to stay stepped up even when Hughes returned. Forbort upped the physicality, demonstrated leadership, and even found a way to add some offence to his repertoire right when the Canucks needed it most out of him. He found a way to stay in the lineup on a nightly basis despite a big push for minutes from below via the other Elias Pettersson and Victor Mancini.

All of which could definitely lead to Forbort receiving some larger-than-expected offers this offseason. With his performance and the cap ceiling being raised, one could definitely see him at least doubling his current $1.5 million compensation and maybe picking up some decent term at the same time, too.

There is, however, perhaps more hope of Forbort re-signing with the Canucks now than there should be for Suter. At 33, Forbort is a veteran journeyman who has changed addresses five times already in his NHL career. If things are working out so well in Vancouver, maybe he isn’t really looking to change it up.

It could be that Forbort’s step-up has convinced the Canucks to make him an extension offer, reasoning that he can continue to platoon with the likes of Pettersson, Mancini, and eventually Tom Willander well into next season, whereas they might otherwise have looked to let him go. And it could be that Forbort is looking to take on just such an extension. So, maybe this run of play actually increased his odds of staying.

The saga of Brock Boeser remains a difficult one to figure out. When the Trade Deadline came and went without Boeser being extended, it sure felt as though the Canucks were going the ‘self-rental’ route, despite a few scattered reports that the two sides were still ‘talking.’

Then Boeser did something he’s done a lot of lately and continued to prove his chops as a truly clutch scorer.

The day Chytil got injured, which was a week ahead of Pettersson’s subsequent injury, Boeser was rocking an 11-game goalless streak. Since March 15, he’s got six goals and eight points in eight games. Again, right when the Canucks need it most.

Boeser is now up to 24 goals and 46 points through 67 games on the season. It seems likely that he’ll miss out on the 30-goal mark this year, but he’ll come reasonably close to it. Which, like we said, might just spell the end of his time in Vancouver. He’s made it this close to unrestricted free agency and would remain one of the few true top-six talents available. All this late run of scoring will do is increase the size of the offers he receives.

At the same time, however, one wonders if both Boeser and the Canucks are reconsidering an extension. For his part, Boeser seems to be having a lot more fun on the ice again. Missing out on the playoffs would be disappointing, but the vibes are better in Vancouver of late, and Boeser is a player who needs to be enjoying himself. He’s got a lot of attachment to this team and market, and one last bout of good times could make him extra eager to stay.

The Canucks, meanwhile, have to be looking at their general dearth of offence and wondering if they can really afford to let one of their top offensive talents walk. The concept is a lot easier now, with names like Sam Bennett and Nikolaj Ehlers theoretically available through free agency, but watch those players get snapped up by other teams, and Boeser walk at the same time, and suddenly the Canucks are an even less potent roster.

The real question is: are the Canucks being swayed to increase their offer, or is Boeser being swayed to accept a previous lesser offer, or some blend thereof? Both sides have been provided additional food for thought, at the very least.

Unlike the other three players we’ve mentioned, Thatcher Demko is not a pending UFA. But the Kevin Lankinen extension and the fact that Demko will be a free agent after next season have led to plenty of discussion about his potential departure all the same.

We’ve noted already that Demko’s stellar performances coming off of IR have almost certainly restored at least some trade value for him around the league. That Demko can play this well after time off – and while probably still not yet back to 100% – is more than enough reason for some goaltending-starved franchise to take a shot at him this summer and to pay for the privilege.

But at the same time, one has to think that trading Demko is no longer ‘Plan A,’ if it ever was. Point-blank, it has to be said, as good as Lankinen has been at various points in 2024/25, he’s never looked as good as Demko does right now, which looks an awful lot like Demko at his best. That’s a Vezina-nominated goaltender, and that’s not something that should be discarded too easily.

There’s also perhaps a lesson to be gleaned from the deterioration in Lankinen’s own play. The Canucks rode him hard in Demko’s absence, to the point that it clearly began to affect Lankinen’s performance. Maybe that is evidence that who were overplayed to the extent that the Canucks tend to overplay their goalies would suffer performance issues. Which, in turn, is perhaps evidence that Demko himself is not a lost cause, and all the more reason to maintain a platoon for 2025/26 so that neither goalie needs to be overburdened.

What Demko is doing right now is not just increasing his odds of staying in Vancouver; they’re upping his odds of going into next season as the clear 1A to Lankinen’s 1B, which is a pretty remarkable turnaround on the situation from where it sat just a few weeks ago.