Sign the Sedins!

Will the Sedins return to the Canucks? This is undoubtedly the biggest question facing the Canucks' GM Mike Gillis right now, and one that will shape all his other off-season decisions. The Twins want to stay in Vancouver, but Gillis is rightly concerned that meeting their salary demands (believed to be about $6.5 million per season) will hobble the team's ability to maneuver under a salary cap that is likely to drop in the next season or two.

I have a feeling that the Sedins will end up settling on a contract with the Canucks. Is it worth it for both of them to leave a city they and their families like and a team that is better than most of the teams rumoured as potential destinations (Toronto, Montreal, LA) for an extra $500,000 a season? Obviously that's a lot of money, but they'll still likely get something in the range of $6 million so it's not a huge loss of income. From the Canucks perspective, and extra $1 million of cap space can go a long way.

The Sedins are excellent players, and I think they are in the $6 million range. A lot of people underestimate them, but consider how they stack up statistically against other stars:

With 82 points each, the Sedins tied with Mike Cammalleri of the Flames for 13th in NHL scoring. That means that they finished higher in scoring than players such as Rick Nash, Eric Staal, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Dany Heatley, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews and Vincent Lecavalier. This is not to say that the Sedins are necessarily better than these players, but that statistically they stack up favourably against some very impressive competition.

Goal scoring is not exactly the Canucks' forte, but that's no fault of Daniel. He had a respectable 31 goals, good enough to tie with a host of other players for 26th in league scoring. Yes, he could and should be higher - but who will pick up that slack if the Canucks let him and his brother walk? Plus, do you really think Alex Burrows will come anywhere close to replicating his 28-goal season playing without the Sedins? Just ask Anson Carter how difficult it is to replicate a career year sans les freres Sedin.

We all know Henrik is an assist machine. With 60 helpers, he finished 8th in the league behind players such as Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk and Joe Thornton. The previous season he finished 4th with 61 assists. But did you know that Daniel was hot on his brother's tail with 51 assists, placing him 14th in the league? These guys make players around them better. Period.

In the playoffs the Sedins continued their clutch play, each scoring 10 points in 10 games. Yes, they could have done more. But so could have Sundin, Luongo, Kesler, Burrows, etc. I thought the Sedins were among the team's best players in the playoffs, and stepped up their physical game in order to get on the scoresheet.

Losing the Sedins would leave a huge hole in the Canucks forward corps. Who would step up to the top line? 19-year old rookie Cody Hodgson? Ryan Kesler? Pavol Demitra? There aren't a lot of good internal options when it comes to filling two of the top three first-line sports. Unless Gillis has a couple aces up his sleeve in trade or free-agent form (Lecavalier? Heatley? Gaborik?), losing the Sedins would be crippling.

What are your thoughts about the Sedins? Should the Canucks keep them? Let them walk? If they stay, what are they worth?