The Vancouver Canucks may be out of the playoffs, but their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, are still active and vying for the AHL’s Western Conference Championship. On Sunday, Canucks prospect goaltender Jacob Markstrom came up with a remarkable stick save in a 3-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The heroics highlight the dilemma the Vancouver Canucks have in goal this offseason. Is Markström an athletic goalie showing flashes of brilliance or one who takes himself out of the play, leaving himself with few options?

The question is not just an academic one. The Canucks have a thorny contract situation and with the salary cap not rising as much as anticipated for 2015-16, things could get tight. With more goalies than they need or can afford, they will have to make a decision about moving someone and the speculation has begun in earnest.

Ryan Miller has two more seasons on his deal with an AAV of $6 million. Eddie Läck is signed for one more year at a very friendly $1.15 million. And Markström, who has spent most of his career in the AHL, will be a restricted free agent as of June 30. In order to keep him restricted, the team would need to tender a qualifying offer of $1.4 million. [Figures from generalfanager.com.]

Add to all of this the $800,000 the team retained of Roberto Luongo’s salary and that’s a lot of money tied up in goaltending. Someone will almost certainly have to move. The question is who it will be and for what return.

General Manager Jim Benning has gone on record praising both Markström and Läck when asked but he has also made it clear that he will entertain offers. Lately speculation has appeared to favor retention of Markström, although Benning has also indicated that talks have begun on an extension for Läck.

This is all complicated by questions about which goaltenders give the Canucks the best shot at winning. Based on recent performance, that could be Eddie Läck and Ryan Miller. Over the past three seasons, Läck has the generally the best stats of the trio.

Past performance, though, does not guarantee future results. None of these statistics are very helpful in predicting an upcoming season’s performance, but they are the best we have at the moment.

In Markström’s case, the numbers come with a caveat of both small sample size and team differences. His sparkling AHL numbers suggest that there is potential there, though it might not be as easy to translate that to the NHL as some observers believe.

It must be noted, as well, that Markström has made significant changes to his game since joining the Canucks.

Love the stance change Canucks have done w Markstrom. So much more balanced and active. See the difference in pics pic.twitter.com/IIgqph9THK — Sean Murray (@SeanVanCityPFGS) May 29, 2015

While Markström’s overall numbers from the past several years may not tell the whole story, there are continuing issues for the 25-year old Swede. One in particular is a tendency to get beat through the body, something that has been an issue for the 6′ 6″ netminder for a number of seasons.

More conservative positioning has helped Markström to reduce openings to some extent, but he has yet to show the same block-react threshold as Miller and Lack, with pucks still going through him before he can close all the holes in that big frame. It remains to be seen how that will play out as he transitions to the NHL.

However, there is still a lot to learn about Markström in the NHL and it can be argued that he has yet to get the chance to show his technical improvements to their best.

Miller has also made important adjustments to his game since arriving in Vancouver and it’s again arguable that he has yet to have the opportunity to determine how those changes might benefit him. After a slow start to the season, Miller began to see glimpses of his former success before being derailed in February with a knee injury that kept him off the ice until the playoffs.

Thus in Miller’s case, too, the statistics may not tell the whole story.

The question concerning Läck, on the other hand, is whether he is ready to carry a starter’s load and whether the Canucks will give him that chance over Ryan Miller. One year after breaking down somewhat under the demands made on him by John Tortorella, Läck has shown this year that he is able to manage a heavy workload.

When Miller went down for the last quarter of the season, Läck rose to the challenge, posting a .922 at even strength (.935 adjusted) from February 22 onward. It seems clear that the team could rely on Läck if needed, as hard as it can be to justify leaving Miller and his $6 million dollar contract on the bench.

If Miller falters or is injured again, the Canucks might be better served having Läck as the backup compared to Markström.

Still there are many steps between that judgment and an extension for Läck. It is possible that at least some of the noise about trading him and keeping Markström is posturing to bring either a better return for the young Markström or a lower contract price for Läck. The “silly season” gets that name for a reason.

In any case, the Canucks will want to bring some kind of return in trade for whichever goaltender they are willing to part with rather than letting them walk for nothing. So we can expect the speculation to continue into the offseason as negotiations continue behind closed doors.