Dealing veteran stars for up-and-coming talent is one way rebuilding clubs restock their prospect cupboard, and the Vancouver Canucks have a pair of premium trade chips in Daniel and Henrik Sedin.
The 36-year-olds will enter the coming campaign on the final year of $7-million pacts, set to skate for a Canucks squad many pundits project to finish outside of the playoff picture. For a team in transition, the twins could command a significant return on the trade market, but shipping out the two longtime Canucks isn't something on the team's radar.
"They're not going anywhere on trade deadline. They're staying," Canucks president of hockey operations Trevor Linden told Sportsnet's John Shannon. "These guys are going to be Canucks until they decide not to be."
While the Sedins have never won the Stanley Cup, the two like life in Vancouver and take pride in having only suited up for a single franchise.
"We won't play anywhere else," Daniel wrote in The Players' Tribune last week. "If we are going to win a Stanley Cup, if we are going to achieve our dream, we'd only want it to be in Vancouver. If we did it anywhere else, I don't think it would feel the same."
Selected with the second and third picks in the 1999 draft, the Sedins have become the Canucks' all-time leaders over their 16 seasons in Vancouver, topping the charts in games played, assists, and points, while Daniel also holds down the No. 1 spot for goals.
"These guys are tremendous athletes and players, and great ambassadors in our community," Linden added. "From our end, there is no talk of them going anywhere because they're going to finish the year as a Vancouver Canuck."
