By Jessy Dhillon
For the last seven Vancouver Canucks seasons there have been no players on the Canucks roster that have consistently put up the points and lead the team than twin brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Over those seven years including this present shortened season; Henrik Sedin has amassed 632 points including a season where he led the National Hockey League in points with 112 and won the Art Ross trophy for being the player with the most points in a season along with the Hart trophy as the league’s most valuable player in the 2010-2011 season. Daniel Sedin has totalled 596 points in the same span including a season where he too won the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in points. Daniel Sedin has played fewer games than his brother Henrik due to injuries. Lately fans have been calling in the local sports radio shows and blaming the Sedin twins for the lack of scoring for this once offensive dominating team.
I feel fans need to realize the pressure that Henrik and Daniel are under in this hockey mad city. Firstly, fans must realize that the Canucks have been without their number two centre in Ryan Kesler. Without having Kesler in the lineup, opposing teams are planning their defensive strategies all around how to stop the twins. Teams can just focus on stopping the twins and not worry about a second line that could relieve some pressure off the twins. If you have a decent second line that teams must also focus on, it would give Henrik and Daniel a better opportunity to exploit opposing teams defensive match ups. The power play has been one of Vancouver’s major strengths over the past few years; it has been a key to their success. A once dominating power play has gone stale and is ranked near the bottom third of the league. Again, I would like to point out the loss of Ryan Kesler. With Kesler on the first power play unit, he gave the twins a lot more space to work their magic since teams had to focus some of their attention on Kesler. All Henrik and Daniel need is a little bit of space and they will make opposing teams pay. However with the loss of Kesler on the first unit, the power play has gone stale.
Fans of the Vancouver Canucks must appreciate everything Henrik and Daniel have done for this team. When Mike Gillis was hired he had said that he did not see the Sedin twins as front line players for the Vancouver Canucks. I am pretty sure Henrik and Daniel have proven them wrong. The twins make anyone who has played with them look good. Anson Carter had a career year playing on the twin’s line scoring 33 goals in the 2005-2006 season. Taylor Pyatt was the next player to enjoy a career year playing on the Sedin line with 23 goals scored in the 2006-2007 season after Anson Carter had bolted for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Out of all the players that have played on Henrik and Daniel’s line, no player has benefited more than Alexandre Burrows who has showed to have the best chemistry with the twins. Alexandre Burrows is the player who just knows where to be when the twins are working their magic with the puck. Even though Burrows has put up some great numbers, I would have loved to see what an elite goal scorer in the league would have looked like playing with the twins.
So appreciate the Sedin twins Vancouver Fans and have patience. They have shown time after time that they can get the job done.
With the season coming down to the final stretch I would like to give my predictions on how I see the top eight Western Conference teams finishing.
Chicago looks like they will pull away and finish first in the conference, the amazing winning streak of 24 games to start the season really helped. The Anaheim Ducks surprisingly look to have a lock on second place in the conference. They have been one of the surprise teams in the league this season. I see the Vancouver Canucks finishing in 3rd by barely beating out Minnesota. I feel Vancouver’s experience playing in big games in the past will help them edge out Minnesota for 3rd. The defending cup champions Los Angeles Kings will finish 4th with the Detroit Red Wings finishing in 5th place. The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks will finish 6th and 7th respectively. The Edmonton Oilers will surprise everyone and make the playoffs in 8th place. The Oilers have been one of the hottest teams in the league of late and are getting hot in the right time. It will definitely be an exciting end to the season!
Jessy Dhillon is an avid sports fanatic and community youth leader, who’s passion for hockey started at the age of 6 when he started watching Wayne Gretzky play for the Los Angeles Kings. He is a long-time resident of Richmond BC and has deep roots in the Richmond Sports scene through playing youth sports, coaching high school basketball at his former high school Matthew McNair Secondary and organizing sports tournaments for the community.
