Daniel Sedin thinks he knows why Lars Karlin, his coach when he was 12 years old in his hometown of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, moved him to the wing and kept his twin brother, Henrik Sedinas the center.
“In my mind it’s because Henrik is six minutes older,” Daniel said. “I think centermen need to be more responsible. Maybe that was in the back of his head when he chose. Maybe naturally he chose Henrik because he’s older.”
Daniel is joking. But it worked.
A left wing playing alongside his brother for 17 seasons, Daniel scored a Vancouver Canucks record 393 goals, of which 280 were assisted by Henrik (202 primary, 78 secondary). He also had 648 assists, including 148 on Henrik’s 240 goals.
Daniel is second in assists, points (1,041) and games played (1,306) in Canucks history behind Henrik (830 assists, 1,070 points, 1,330 games played).
The twins, selected second (Daniel) and third (Henrik) by the Canucks in the 1999 NHL Draft, are going into the Hockey Hall of Fame together as part of the Class of 2022 that will be inducted Monday.
That Daniel did it as a wing and the younger brother, albeit by 360 seconds, is merely a footnote to the story of how he did it.
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“I always thought of Danny as a centerman in the way he thought the game,” Henrik said. “That never changed. I was just lucky to be playing with a guy that thinks the game as a centerman but doing a winger’s job very well as well. I don’t think there’s any difference between me and Danny. He became the shooter and more the finisher, but he could have easily played center. We were exactly the same player when we played on different lines as centermen, so it could have easily been me that got moved to the wing.”
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Daniel knew even at 12 years old that he had to adapt his style of play to become a forward who could finish plays that his brother started.
“I realized that I had to change my game and get a good shot, a good enough shot,” he said.
He became a true finisher in the NHL, scoring 30 goals four times, including 41 in 2010-11.
“Quick release, very quick and very accurate,” said Alex Burrows, who played several seasons on the same line with the twins in Vancouver. “He also had a nose for the net. Before the puck was even on his blade he knew where to go with it. It wasn’t the hardest shot, but the accuracy and the quickness of the release is what beats most goalies.”
Former Canucks goalie Cory Schneider said Daniel’s shot could surprise goalies.
“Underrated,” Schneider said. “He never had a booming, big, heavy shot, but I think he had one of the most deceptively accurate and strong wristers that I’ve seen. He was hard to stop in practice. But he could pass equally well. He was an equally adept passer, so I think that gets underrated too. Hank was the passer and had more assists, but I think Danny’s ability to pass with him and keep up with him in that sense made them so special.”
Henrik said Daniel had to play with more of a selfish mentality because he had to be the shooter.
“I wouldn’t say a selfish player, but if there was a 2-on-1, I would pass the puck nine times out of 10, he would shoot the puck five times out of 10,” Henrik said. “He knew and understood that I wasn’t going to be the shooter, so he had to take it upon himself to become that.”
Daniel also got his nose dirty.
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“Going to all the dirty areas, in front of the net, taking cross checks and never backing down,” former Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “Never fighting anybody but certainly never backing down from all those big defensemen back in the early 2000s that would just try to manhandle him. Daniel always went to all the dirty areas and never complained. Neither of them would ever complain.”
Part of Daniel’s skillset was his ability to read off his brother because oftentimes Henrik was the one orchestrating the dance. It was part of his wing mentality.
“Like most great duos in sports, one guy has to be Batman and one guy has to be Robin,” said Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Brian Burke, who as Canucks general manager drafted the Sedins in 1999. “When you’re Robin , you’re getting some of the crappy assignments and you’re reading off of Batman, who is taking the lead. You have to figure out the dance, but someone else is calling out the moves that you have to execute. It takes a special mentality to be the guy that can read off of the other guy, get hit more than the other guy, and it’s OK because it’s going to make us win games. There is an unselfishness and the fearlessness that comes with being Robin.”
In this case, Robin scored 153 more goals than Batman.
“That’s the only number I bring up when people talk about us,” Daniel said jokingly. “I also realize that a lot were set up by Henrik and it was mostly tap-ins so I can’t really take it too far. But I’ll keep giving it to him for sure.”
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Daniel was more Batman than Robin off the ice during their playing careers.
“He’s a lot more regimented and structured than Henrik,” Bieksa said. “He’s the worker of the two. He’s the one who would drag Henrik along as far as conditioning, cardio, diet. Henrik was more laid back. He liked to sit back and joke around. He’d like to sit on the couch and have coffee and be in the mix. Daniel did too, but Daniel would say in Swedish, ‘Time to go. Let’s go to the gym.’ Daniel is the bus driver out of the two.”
Henrik said what made Daniel special was the fact that he was an everyday gamer.
“He never, ever took a night off and I think that’s rare,” he said. “We had a lot of bad games and it wasn’t because we took the night off. It was because our legs weren’t there. It was never for lack of effort or focus or mental preparation. That’s where I think he was special, his mindset and how he is mentally built, that’s what impresses me the most. He was always up for a game. Over 1,300 or so games I don’t think he had one where he mentally took the night off.”
But Daniel has always been the more laid-back and sociable twin away from the rink, Henrik said.
“I’m more of an introvert than Daniel is,” Henrik said. “That’s the big difference. But I also think people might not see that unless they’re close to us.”
Said Daniel, “People might think that Henrik is more outspoken since he was the captain and he’s always been the captain, but people that know us might see that differently. I think that’s one thing people don’t really realize. It’s not a big difference. I think they take for granted that because he’s the captain he’s more outspoken, but it might be the other way around.”
Burrows said he could see that when they played together.
“Danny likes to listen to the stories and he’d laugh more at the silly stuff,” he said.
It makes sense, then, that he’d joke about six minutes being the reason Karlin made Henrik the center and him the wing.
“He put us together on the same line and somehow he chose Henrik to be the centerman,” Daniel said. “I have no idea why, but that’s what happened. And since then we’ve been together.”
Forever in the Hockey Hall of Fame too.
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