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The Sedins, armed with no-movement clauses, have already said they want to be Canucks as long as the hockey team wants them. For their part, the Canucks have stated they won’t try to move the twins unless they ask for a trade. Oh, and it’s important to remember that the Canucks don’t have the capacity to retain salary on both contracts, which further complicates matters.

So there are already a number of barriers likely to prevent a deal from getting done. On top of that, though, is the fact it takes two sides to make a trade and no one in this city seems to examine this from another team’s perspective.

The game is faster than ever, and at playoff time, checking is far tighter than anything seen in during the regular season. Neither plays into the Sedins’ hands at this stage of their careers.

If they were lethal on the power play where they have more room to roam and more time to operate, perhaps that would change the discussion. But anyone who watched the Canucks last season knows the power play was one of the team’s biggest issues and the Sedins played a huge part in those struggles. And at even strength, there are defensive deficiencies in their games now that would surely give interested teams reason for pause.

Now none of this is to say that veterans can’t have a positive impact in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pittsburgh runs with 40-year-old Matt Cullen and Ottawa parted with a significant asset to pry 36-year-old Alex Burrows away from the Canucks. But both have specific roles on their hockey clubs and neither is looked to as any kind of offensive saviour.