Welcome back to The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks site’s Coaches as Players series. Last time, we looked at Canucks icon and player development coach Daniel Sedin’s playing career. Today, we’ll examine the playing career of his twin brother and fellow player development coach, Henrik Sedin.
Welcome back to The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks site’s Coaches as Players series. Last time, we looked at Canucks icon and player development coach Daniel Sedin’s playing career. Today, we’ll examine the playing career of his twin brother and fellow player development coach, Henrik Sedin.
Sedin was selected third overall by Vancouver in the 1999 NHL Draft, only a spot behind his brother. If things hadn’t gone as then-General Manager Brian Burke had wanted them to, Vancouver would have only had the third-overall selection this year. In a different reality, there may have only been one Sedin who played for the Canucks. However, a couple of quick trades within the first two picks of the draft resulted in Vancouver landing both Daniel and Henrik — in that particular order.
2000–01 was the season Sedin’s NHL career began, in which he potted nine goals and 20 assists in 82 games. In Vancouver’s first-round exit against current Canucks head coach Adam Foote and the Colorado Avalanche, Sedin had four assists in four games. He followed this rookie season up by setting career high after career high in points. In 2001–02 he had 36 (16 goals and 20 assists), 39 points in 2002–03 (eight goals and 31 assists), and 42 points in 2003–04 (11 goals and 31 assists). While Daniel was the goal-scorer between the two, Henrik developed a reputation as his set-up man.
In 2004–05, the NHL shut down due to the lockout. Because of this, Sedin ended up joining former junior club, MoDo Hockey in Sweden, for the year. He scored 14 goals and 22 assists in 44 games with the Elitserien club, also putting up a goal and three assists in six playoff games. Like his brother, Sedin broke out offensively the season after, marking his return to the NHL with an 18-goal, 57-assist campaign. He also recorded a new average time on ice, spending around 16:54 minutes per game on the ice while hitting the 100-shot mark for the first time in a single season.
From there, the offence continued to flow for both Sedins. The 2006–07 season saw Sedin set another career-high in assists and points in a single season, as he scored 10 goals and 71 assists in a full 82 games.
While he found ample success in 2007–08 and 2008–09, these accomplishments paled in comparison to the 2009–10 season. This season was Sedin’s first wearing the ‘A’ as one of the team’s assistant captains, and clearly, he took this responsibility seriously. In a full 82-game season, Sedin scored 29 goals and tallied a whopping 83 assists. His performance in this season earned him both the Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophies, which are given to the player who finished a season with the most points and the most valuable player to his team respectively. He also finished Vancouver’s 2009–10 playoff run with over a point per game pace, scoring three goals and 11 assists in the team’s 12-game loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round.
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The 2010–11 season saw a repeat of Sedin’s successes. Except this time, he was named captain and did not relinquish that title until his retirement in 2018. He had another above a point-per-game season with 19 goals and 75 assists in 82 games, helping the team to a spot atop the Western Conference at the end of the regular season. He was a major factor in the playoffs while simultaneously not being the most talked-about player in each series — Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler, and Kevin Bieksa gained those honours after their respective memorable moments throughout the series against the Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, and San Jose Sharks. Sedin finished the 2011 postseason with three goals and 19 assists in 25 games.
2011–12 was another one filled with offensive success for Sedin, though from here on, Vancouver failed to make it past the first round during the playoffs up until 2020. He scored 14 goals and 67 assists in 82 games in 2011–12 while averaging a point per game in five playoff games. A complicated 2012–13 season resulted in Sedin tallying 11 goals and 34 assists in 48 games, while the Canucks as a team ended up getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Sharks. Despite a brief surge in 2014–15, in which Sedin scored 18 goals and 55 assists and the Canucks qualified for the postseason, it appeared as though Vancouver’s contention window had shut.
Sedin stayed with the Canucks until his and his brother’s retirements in 2018, with his last season being capped off with a three-game, 47-point effort. He won two more King Clancy Trophies before his retirement, earning the award in 2015–16 and 2017–18. Both brothers’ retirements marked a shift in the team’s locker room. A new core would lead the way from there, led by young stars Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, and Elias Pettersson.
In 2020, the Canucks retired Sedin’s number ‘33’ and his brother’s ‘22’. Both players were named to the Hockey Hall of Fame a couple of years after, in 2022. They were named Special Assistants to the General Manager of the Canucks in 2021–22 and took on the roles of development coaches the year after.
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