CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

Ten years ago last summer, nucks fans watched the Sedins walk up on the Boston stage. They looked the same and had identical numbers on their jerseys – the year of their draft.

Then they went through their learning curve at the same pace – one being the goal scorer – Daniel – and the other the set up man – Henrik.

And they would end up with almost the same points – Henrik 460 at the end of 2008-09 – and Daniel 462. Henrik would have 109 goals and 351 assists, and Daniel would have 179 goals and 283 assists.

So, they were two forwards with clearly defined roles.

And then Daniel was injured and we found out that Henrik could also score. In the 18 games since Number 22 was injured, the set up man tallied 13 goals.

So, we can now see that Henrik can play either role – is thus more dimensional than his brother – although we have never seen Daniel play centre.

But, there’s a more significant stat that distinguishes the two brothers.

In the 646 games – over 8 seasons – that Henrik played prior to this campaign, and 642 games that Daniel played, the pivot twin had a 97+ stat, whereas the sniper had only an 80+stat.

So, not only does Henrik have more offensive diversity, but he is better defensively as well.

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photo courtesy of hockeycircleblogspot.com