VANCOUVER - Ideologically, it is the irresistible force paradox. With the Vancouver Canucks suddenly stalled and unable to score, general manager Jim Benning remains committed to making the National Hockey League playoffs and reiterated Wednesday he will do everything he can to get his team there. But he won’t trade a draft pick or prospect for help.

So, while the Canucks may need a trade to achieve their playoff goal, Benning is opposed to putting any coveted asset in play. Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.

“I talk to other general managers in the league and have a feel for what’s going on,” Benning said. “But if we decide to do something, we’re not giving up future prospects or draft picks. We’re going to do everything we can to give this team a chance to compete for a playoff spot and once we get in, try to win. Our focus there hasn’t changed — but with an eye to the future, too.

“We’re not going to be moving any more picks.”

As part of the Ryan Kesler deal, Benning traded the Canucks’ 2015 third-round pick for the Anaheim Ducks’ third-rounder last June, then used that pick to acquire Derek Dorsett from the New York Rangers. Benning also sent a seventh-round pick with defenceman Jason Garrison to the Tampa Bay Lightning for its second pick, which fetched Linden Vey from the Los Angeles Kings.

With only one goal in 15 games, Vey is among the many Canuck forwards who has stopped scoring.

The offensive crisis — 20 goals over 12 of Vancouver’s last 13 games — has contributed to a mid-season losing streak that conjures for Canuck fans uncomfortable memories of the team’s second-half disintegration last season.

As they open the second half of their 82-game schedule later today in Philadelphia against the Flyers, the Canucks have lost three straight while being outscored 9-2.

It was at precisely this point last season, Game 42, when the Canucks began their spectacular cliff dive from playoff position under former coach John Tortorella and previous general manager Mike Gillis.

The team went 13-24-4 in the second half, costing both men their jobs and owner Francesco Aquilini at least $12 million in salary payouts.

From Jan. 10 until March 8 last year, the Canucks went 4-14-1 and scored more than two goals in a game only twice.

So, yes, the current Canucks, whose offence still relies too heavily on a power play and aging stars Henrik and Daniel Sedin, have rekindled the sense of impending doom in Vancouver that has permeated, more or less, since the franchise entered the NHL in 1970.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I think we have a different dynamic this year than last year,” Benning countered. “I think we’re playing hard. I think we’re getting chances. As long as we’re working hard and competing — and I think we are — we’ve shown the ability to beat good teams. But we’ve got to be honest: We’re in a tough division and the Western Conference is tough. Every game is a tough game.”

Benning conceded he is concerned by the Canucks’ recent inability to finish, which has dropped their offence to 15th in the NHL from the top-10. Vancouver was 28th in scoring under Tortorella.

“That’s the thing that I worry about the most … our ability to finish off chances,” Benning said. “We’re playing the right way. We play hard, play a 200-foot game. We work hard enough to get scoring chances, but we need to finish those opportunities off. We got off to a real good start. Whether that was sustainable or not, time kind of evens that out.”

He said it is “almost impossible” to trade for an established goal-scorer and the only commodity harder to acquire is a top-four defenceman.

Benning’s trades at the last draft were the start of the Canucks’ transition to a younger team, exemplified this season by the incorporation of 19-year-old rookie centre Bo Horvat. Benning said last week that he believes another first-round Canuck pick, 18-year-old Abbotsford winger Jake Virtanen, should challenge for an NHL spot next season.

Then why the preoccupation with making the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring?

“We have a group of players that, first of all, want to make the playoffs and want to compete for the Stanley Cup,” Benning said. “So that’s what our goal is. The other thing is to teach and develop our young players, they need to learn what’s important and how hard it is to play the right way — all the things winning teams do. Our goal is not going to change. Those are the things that are important to us. And we’re going to do everything in our power that we can to try to reach those goals.”

The Canucks’ first-half record of 23-15-3 is four points behind Tortorella’s team, which had an eight-point playoff cushion at this stage last season but missed the Stanley Cup tournament by the same margin.

It’s unfathomable that coach Willie Desjardins’ Canucks could fully implode the way Tortorella’s team did — unless there is an injury epidemic.

Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators left the Canucks fourth in the Pacific Division and eighth in the conference, and they lead the Calgary Flames in both races by only two points, although Vancouver has played two fewer games.

Benning said he knew there would be times the Canucks struggled like this. After spending nearly all of the season’s first half with his team, Benning is on a three-week scouting mission planned long ago. President of hockey operations Trevor Linden will join him on the road next week.

“This is not unexpected,” Benning said of the Canucks’ slump. “If we’re working hard and competing and doing the things we’re capable of doing, I still believe we can be a playoff team. Going into the season, our expectation and plan was to compete hard every night and get back to competing for a playoff spot, and develop our young players along the way. So far, we’ve lived up to that.”

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