Vancouver Canucks: Sedins Should Play on 2nd Line in 2017-18

The Vancouver Canucks’ aging Sedin twins didn’t need a new linemate, they needed less of the opposition’s attention. They could get it next season.

The Vancouver Canucks are turning the page. The 2011 Stanley Cup Finalist team has been scuttled and only four pieces remain. The future is finally arriving, and it looks bright.

Brock Boeser had his Vancouver Canucks debut in his hometown on Saturday afternoon and looked every bit like the future franchise player. Bo Horvat was an NHL All-Star this year and is undoubtedly the heart of the new generation. Sven Baertschi set up Boeser’s first NHL goal with the most underrated stepping-on-puck pass of the Canucks’ 2016-17 season. Markus Granlund scored 19 goals this season with a busted wrist. Reid Boucher has scored five goals in 19 games for the Canucks with extremely limited ice time. Nikolay Goldobin has notched a highlight reel goal.

For the first time in recent memory, the Sedins are not the most important players on the ice for the Canucks. This is great news for the entire Canucks organization, and especially for Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin.

Twilight Years

There is little doubt that the Sedin twins are the greatest players in franchise history, as John Shannon and Corey Hirsch asserted in 2016, both for their on-ice production and their off-ice leadership and community involvement.

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But it is also readily apparent that their abilities are declining as they approach retirement. At 36, they are almost a decade older than the NHL average, and their point totals are sinking with every passing season. Between 2008 and 2011 they averaged over a point per game, but have fallen steadily and now average less than 0.5 per game.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that they’ve managed to remain high-caliber NHLers in their 17th year in the league against the oppositions’ best players. Night after night, season after season, Henrik and Daniel have gone up against the Crosbys, the Kanes, the McDavids and the Marchands of the NHL and have still managed to lead the Canucks in scoring.

Until now.

The kids have finally begun to supplant the Sedins at the top of the Canucks points totals, and even if head coach Willie Desjardins continues to slot the Sedins in the No. 1 spot, opposing teams have already begun playing their best players against Horvat’s line.

Second Line, Second Life

The Sedins are far from finished. Though noticeably slower skaters on the ice, they still have quick hands, immense hockey IQ, and the conditioning to play big minutes.

For years, the Canucks organization has tried to find a linemate that would rejuvenate the twins; Loui Eriksson was supposed to be that player this year, and when that didn’t work, the coach tried Brandon Sutter (disaster), Jayson Megna (unmitigated disaster), and now Michael Chaput (nice kid, not a first liner). But take a look at the Sedins’ linemates over the years and what jumps out is that few of them were better-than-average hockey players.

The Sedins don’t need a new linemate, they need more space and time. They need to match up against softer defenders and slower forwards. They need to draw less of their opponents’ attention.

As such, the rise of Horvat, Boeser and the rest of the kids is just what the doctor ordered for Henrik and Daniel. With easier matchups, expect a bounceback season for the Sedins in 2017-18 and perhaps even another season or two after that, as the twins move down the depth chart and provide secondary scoring and leadership for the new core.

Leading By Example

It’s no secret that the Sedins are good leaders. Even the academic world has weighed in on the twins’ leadership style, which is more about modelling consistency, respect and hard work than it is about rousing speeches in the dressing room. With a young core emerging, the Sedins still have a role to play in setting the professional tone for the next generation of Canucks. Indeed, they have already done so in their mentorship of Horvat, who has bought into the Sedins’ approach to the game, to very positive effect.

But for the Sedins to be effective leaders, they still need to be effective players. This season, they took responsibility for not being good enough down the stretch, and while that accountability in itself is a good lesson for younger players, it comes with the expectation that they will find a way to improve next season.

Next: Canucks Closer to Cup Than You Think

With Horvat, Baertschi and Boeser set to become the Vancouver Canucks’ top line in 2017-18, a healthy Granlund will be the sniper on an effective second line with Henrik and Daniel, and the twins will finish the last season of their current contract with the Canucks’ future looking brighter than it has in many years.

There may even be another contract in them yet.

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