The Vancouver Canucks have locked up Henrik and Daniel Sedin for another four seasons, as both forwards sign identical $28 Million contract extensions($7 Million per season). The Sedins' were slated to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2013-14 season.

The Canucks continue to follow the recent trend of teams not allowing their top end talent getting a chance to test the open market and this signing eliminates two valuable targets in the free agent sweepstakes next July.

more to come

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Interesting story out of Winnipeg today, where Jets defenseman Tobias Enstrom has confirmed that he informed the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and Olympic coach Par Marts that he does not intend to play in Sochi and asked to have his name withdrawn from consideration for Sweden's roster for the Olympics.

Enstrom, who said he is a bit banged up with injuries, prefers to concentrate on helping the struggling Jets get to the playoffs than trying to balance the NHL season with preparations for the Olympics. The decision is no doubt a bit a personal sacrifice, as there are very few players who -- all things being equal -- would not love to do both.

Now that Enstrom has stepped forward and said he's putting his NHL obligations above national team loyalties -- and it often takes someone else doing it first to get others to follow suit -- it will be interesting to see how many, if any, shoo-in NHL Olympic candidates who are at less than 100 percent physically will proactively decline to participate in the Olympics.

More to come... continuing to chase the Oilers and Blues rumors mentioned yesterday, among others.

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