The Paper Feature is a weekly column and sidebars that appears in the Vancouver Courier newspaper. Track it down!
“We’re only 36. We’re not 42.”
That was Henrik Sedin before the start of this season, dismissing any suggestion that he and his brother were too old or that this season would be some sort of farewell tour. The eternally optimistic Sedin twins expressed their confidence in themselves to stave off the effects of aging.
“We’re going to have better seasons than last year,” said Daniel, looking over at Henrik as he said it.
So far, they’ve done exactly that. The two brother are on pace for 50+ points, a small step up from last season. More importantly, they’ve maintained that production while playing significantly fewer minutes, giving Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Sven Baertschi the ice-time necessary to step up as the new first line.
Some of that scoring has come via the power play, where they’ve benefited from Boeser’s incredible shot. Last season, Daniel and Henrik had 14 and 15 power play points, respectively, their lowest power play totals in over a decade. Just over halfway through the season, they are already up to 12 and 11 power play points.
They haven’t just found new life on the man advantage, however. When you look at their scoring pace at 5-on-5, the Sedins have bounced back. Daniel averaged 0.45 goals per 60 minutes of ice time last season. He’s doubled that to 0.9 goals per 60 minutes this season.
Daniel and Henrik averaged 1.41 and 1.51 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 last season. They’re up to 1.79 and 1.88 this season, a significant improvement. While not first-line production and nowhere near their peak season in 2009-10, when they both incredibly averaged over 4 points per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time, that’s still solid second-line production.
Unfortunately, when Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi went on the injured reserve, they took the primary scoring with them. Brock Boeser is still in the top-10 in the NHL in points per 60 minutes, but his makeshift first line with Thomas Vanek and Sam Gagner has been too inconsistent to regularly carry the team at even-strength.
What has perhaps been the biggest surprise with the Sedins is their puck possession. Long a staple of their game, the two had faltered over the past couple season, falling below 50% in corsi percentage (percent of shot attempts for at 5-on-5) for the first time in their careers. That can partly be explained by playing with wingers ill-suited to their style, like Brandon Sutter and Jayson Megna, but not entirely.
This season, however, the Sedins are once again leading the team in corsi at 54.22% for Daniel and 53.87% for Henrik. While they may not score at the same rate they did years ago, the Sedins can still be expected to spend most of their time in the offensive zone when they are on the ice.
That reliability more than anything else could earn them another year with the Canucks once this season is over. Add in the potential for mentoring Elias Pettersson and, potentially, Jonathan Dahlen when they come over from Sweden next year, and another year of the Sedins makes a lot of sense.
Big Numbers
1.89 - Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Washington Capitals, Brock Boeser’s 1.89 goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time leads the entire NHL, with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov right behind at 1.87 goals-per-60. While Boeser has been lauded for his work on the power play, he’s been arguably even more impressive at even-strength.
4 - In his return to the Utica Comets lineup after being sent down by the Canucks, Reid Boucher scored a hat trick and added an assist for a 4-point night. It’s stunning to me that Boucher couldn’t get a longer look in a top-six role for the Canucks while they’re struggling so significantly.
Stick-taps and Glove-drops
A tap of the stick to Michael Del Zotto, who took on the gruesome task of retrieving Chris Tanev’s teeth from the ice after the defenceman was hit in the mouth by a deflected puck. Del Zotto managed to find four of Tanev’s teeth and then probably spent the rest of the night frantically Purell-ing his hands.
I’m dropping the gloves with the Calgary Flames, as they’re seeking to cut ties with Jaromir Jagr. Okay, it’s not really their fault that Jagr’s NHL career appears to be coming to an end in such an underwhelming, anti-climatic way, but it just feels right to blame the Flames anyway.
