"In their 10 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, Daniel and Henrik Sedin have played in 11 playoff series.

The Canucks' record over that span? They've won four series, lost seven and never made it past the second round.

In his five seasons with the Canucks, Roberto Luongo has played in six series, winning three and losing three. Like the twins, he's never been beyond the second round of the playoffs and his goals-against average and save percentage were demonstrably higher in the past two postseasons than they'd been in the regular season.

Ryan Kesler, for his part, is a different case, but in the 2008-09 playoffs he had four points in 10 games, and last season he had one goal in 12 playoff games.

Just so you know, Henrik is the reigning Hart Trophy winner, Daniel might win it this year, Luongo is in the conversation about the best goalies of his generation and if Kesler doesn't win the Selke Trophy this year, there should be an investigation.

All four Canucks, in short, are among the best players in the game and the Sedins and Luongo are starting to build Hall of Fame credentials.

But here's the cold, hard reality facing the team's four best players: For everything they've accomplished in the regular season, they haven't done it in the playoffs, and that record of postseason failure is starting to define their careers as much as their gaudy regular-season numbers.

They now have a chance to do something about that against the team that's sent them packing the past two playoff seasons, and while this series will be a proving ground for the Canucks team, there are also individuals who have a huge stake in its outcome.

Maybe there are more original storylines to this Canucks-Hawks matchup. But none are more important."