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If the Chicago Blackhawks are interested in Sam Gagner, Canucks general manager Jim Benning isn’t saying.

Asked Wednesday if there was any truth to the suggestion from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the Hawks “might be thinking” about the recently demoted Canucks forward, Benning demurred.

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“I’m not going to comment on discussions we’ve had. It’s not fair to the other teams,” he said Wednesday over the phone, an off-day for his NHL club.

Veteran forward Gagner was loaned back to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL on Tuesday, a somewhat surprising move given the prominent role he had played for the Canucks over the past two weeks. Over those two weeks, Gagner went from the AHL to the first line on an NHL team — as well as playing on the first power-play unit — and now back again.

Gagner had been playing lots and playing well. It seems entirely possible other teams might have noticed.

Another team, another season, the Canucks might have looked at the other demotion options available to them when Jay Beagle was cleared to return to the lineup, two months after breaking his arm.