In many ways, Kevin Lankinen stocks have never been higher.

The 29-year-old netminder has already set new career highs in wins (19) and is currently rocking his best goals-against-average (2.53) of his career. He’s looked more reliable than Thatcher Demko all season long, and the Vancouver Canucks’ crease isn’t the only one he’s stolen space in. Lankinen returns from the 4 Nations Face-Off, having wrestled the Team Finland starting goaltender duties from former Nashville Predators teammate Juuse Saros.

The Canucks are enjoying that production at a low, low cost of just $875,000.

All of which would add up to make Lankinen easily the best rental goalie available at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline…if he is actually available, that is.

Among pending UFA goalies, Lankinen has little competition. Adin Hill might be considered the better overall option due to his Stanley Cup experience, but he won’t be dealt away by Vegas at this point and is likely to be eventually re-signed. Nor will the Washington Capitals be moving Charlie Lindgren, currently holding down the best backup record in the league. Beyond those two, there are a few more intriguing names, like Karel Vejmelka and Alex Lyon, but still no one who can hold a candle to Lankinen’s bang-for-buck factor.

And there should be a market for rental goaltenders, or at least the best rental goaltenders, as there are a number of teams potentially headed toward the playoffs who are not or should not be satisfied with their netminding situation. Chief among them is probably the Carolina Hurricanes. But the market could also include the likes of the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Edmonton Oilers if the Canucks are willing to trade within the division.

But then Lankinen’s low cap hit makes him an option for those teams who might not outright need a new starting goaltender but just some additional depth and coverage at the position. In short, any team that wants an extra goalie on hand for the rest of this regular season and the playoffs should look at Lankinen as their top option.

That should conspire to create enough of a trade market for the Canucks to extract some value out of Lankinen. Perhaps not all that much – goalies don’t usually go for big-ticket price tags, though there are exceptions.

All of this is dependent on GM Patrik Allvin and Co. deciding to trade Lankinen — a decision which is probably still up in the air, especially given the most recent events.

The pros here are relatively obvious. There is the aforementioned market for Lankinen’s services and the likelihood that he could return some usable assets. There is the fact we are two weeks from the Trade Deadline, and Lankinen is still without a contract extension, which drastically increases his odds of testing the market this summer — and walking away for nothing.

There’s no sunk-cost fallacy here because Lankinen didn’t really cost the team anything. But signing him this past offseason was one of the coups of the summer. It would be nice to see the Canucks cash out on one of their wins for once, and one can’t argue that they don’t need the assets.

But then the situation is a little more complicated by the fact that the Canucks themselves are currently in a playoff position.

A week or so before the 4 Nations, this was looking decidedly more settled. Demko had returned to what looked like starting duties and was finally playing up to the quality of the Demko of old. However, had that continued, selling high on Lankinen and rolling with Demko for the remainder of the season would have been more appealing.

Sure, the team might have still wanted to hold on to Lankinen in order to maintain depth for the stretch run and postseason. But, at the very least, he would have been more pry-able with a good offer.

Then Demko got injured…again. And while little is known about this current ailment, it’s kept him out throughout the entire length of the 4 Nations, and he’s still listed as ‘week-to-week.’ It’s a timeline that can only be described as incredibly awkward at this point.

Week-to-week does seem to imply that Demko will be out for at least longer than one additional week. In fact, it’s been suggested that he will miss the team’s entire upcoming five-game road trip.

If true, that would bring Demko back into the crease for the Canucks’ March 5 matchup against the Anaheim Ducks — their last game prior to the 2025 Trade Deadline. And that’s assuming Demko doesn’t need additional recovery time, which is far from certain.

All of which means that, were the Canucks to trade Lankinen now, they’d be without a starting goalie for at least five games and maybe more. None of which is very conducive to their maintaining — and ideally improving upon — their playoff position.

Having Demko come back at less than 100% and needing him to play starting minutes all the same isn’t, either. That might be the worst possible outcome, in fact.

Though Arturs Silovs has bounced back well enough in Abbotsford, no one is looking for him to be Vancouver’s one-and-only goaltender again anytime soon. If it’s a choice between keeping Lankinen (and letting him walk for free as a UFA) or placing their hopes entirely on a currently and frequently injured Demko, then that’s not really a choice, is it? Call it a ‘self-rental,’ call it what you will, it’s something they might pretty much have to do, given their circumstances.

Again, that Demko injury couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Unless…

There is a third, secret option here, and there is a chance that this latest Demko absence might have finally pushed Vancouver management to consider it. And that’s the option of preventing Lankinen from walking as a UFA by signing him to an extension right now.

Easier said than done, of course. We don’t know what Lankinen is asking for, or if he’s even willing to talk contract before he’s had a chance to test the market under an expanded cap this summer.

But if a deal is feasible, it probably has to be at least considered by now, right? In extending Lankinen to something reasonable, the Canucks could officially hand the starter’s reins to him for this season and the next few, neatly covering a good chunk of the Quinn Hughes Competitive Window ™. It would then allow the Canucks to explore the trade market for Demko this offseason, likely allowing them to at least recoup some draft picks and prospects.

Whereas the best path forward for them previously may have been Demko regaining his health and form and Lankinen being sold to the highest bidder, it sure feels like the situation has changed. If Lankinen was ever on the table, he’s probably decidedly off it now — though stranger things have certainly happened in the annals of Canucks hockey.