This was supposed to be Nils Höglander’s year — the season where he puts everything together and becomes the top-six winger of Rick Tocchet’s dreams.

But the light at the end of that tunnel seems to be getting dimmer for the Vancouver Canucks forward with every passing game.

On Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames, Höglander played a season-low 9:23 minutes, spending the game stapled to the fourth line with Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty. His ice time in the third was particularly egregious, seeing the ice just once in the final 12 minutes of play with the Canucks protecting a one-goal lead.

It’s clear his head coach is frustrated. After spending so much of training camp and the preseason praising Höglander’s play, Rick Tocchet has let it be known that Höglander isn’t playing up to expectations through line demotions and being pulled entirely from the power play. But having Höglander rot away on the fourth line is a punishment for missed assignments or poor defensive play doesn’t help him or the Canucks in the long run. Something has to give.

The ideal option would be to put Höglander back where he’s succeeded most: in the middle six. His 200-foot game hasn’t been there like Tocchet would want, but it’s also fair to say the leash on Höglander has been much shorter than some of his counterparts. When he was pencilled onto the second line with Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland earlier in the season, Höglander’s chemistry with the pair was undeniable. He even nearly scored on an early assignment with them Tuesday, if not for Dan Vladar’s glove getting in the way.

The second, nuclear option is for the Canucks to cut their losses and trade Höglander as part of a bigger package for defensive help. General manager Patrik Allvin has shown several times that he’s willing to pull the plug on a move quickly, as evidenced by the Daniel Sprong trade just a month into his Canucks tenure when it became obvious that he’d never win Tocchet’s favour.

But Höglander isn’t a one-dimensional player on a league-minimum deal. There’s been a lot of bets hedged on him succeeding in green and blue; selling low on him would be a massive about-face for the front office so soon after signing him to a three-year extension worth $9 million that doesn’t even kick in until next season. If the Canucks are making this move, it’s either fully to appease the coach or because they’ve lost that much faith in a short amount of time.

Regardless of which avenue the Canucks want to go down, one aspect is clear: there has to be a bigger emphasis on putting Höglander in positions to succeed. Even if the organization makes the decision to move on at the soonest convenience, they’re not going to get much of anything for Höglander if he’s playing nine minutes a night.

Most importantly, Tocchet has to give Höglander enough room not to worry that one mistake will end with him being glued to the bench. Höglander at his most confident is an X-factor that can rip shots and antagonize opponents at both ends of the ice, but if he has to play perfectly to stay on a scoring line, it’ll only make it harder for him to avoid mistakes. We’ve seen that situation play out before with Vasily Podkolzin and Andrei Kuzmenko, but only Höglander has the potential to fill in certain skill gaps the Canucks have beyond goal-scoring.

We still have a lot of faith that Nils Höglander can find his stride, as long as he has the time and patience required from Tocchet to succeed. But if moving on from the 23-year-old becomes inevitable, this is not a player the Canucks can afford to sell low on either. Giving Höglander all the room he needs in the middle six rotation will either give the Canucks a talent showcase for potential trade partners or create an untouchable piece of a Stanley Cup contender.

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