Thanks a ton
@scylla @armoured @YVR123 for your valuable inputs!
I repeat the magic number that you need to keep track of - days outside Canada less than 1095 days in any five year period, i.e. five years back from any day (in practice, any day you are examined eg at border or IRCC opens your file for some reason like sponsorship app). The only 'fixed' five year period is the first one, from day of landing to fifth anniversary of landing.
BUT: leave yourself extra room. One of the most frequent type of issues here is PRs who have been abroad, planned to return earlier, and 'something came up' or return and then need to travel or whatever happens. Those who had healthy buffers of time remaining and time in Canada have a lot fewer issues.
In your case: imagine planning to return or returning to Canada but spouse and kid(s) can't right away, need/want to see and/or something happens. With no buffer or small buffer - sponsorship becomes a serious issue, possibly delays of 2+ years beyond the stated processing times.