We’ve talked a lot this week about the Sedins as a duo, which is understandable. It’s the whole “identical twins” thing: they’re kind of a package deal.
It’s important to remember, however, that Daniel and Henrik Sedin were both, individually, outstanding hockey players. Sure, put them together and the whole is greater than its parts, but the parts are pretty great too.
So let’s take a moment and remember a few of the greatest moments of Daniel Sedin’s career as an individual, apart from his brother. Sure, Henrik will make some guest appearances — it’s unavoidable — but this article is all about Daniel Sedin.
Here are 10 of Daniel Sedin’s best moments as a Canuck in no particular order.
1 | Daniel sets NHL record in accuracy shooting, crushes Patrick Kane
I’m starting off with one of my personal favourite moments from Daniel Sedin. It comes from the 2012 NHL All Star Skills Competition, where Daniel competed in the accuracy shooting contest. They structured the contest a little differently that year, pitting the shooters head-to-head to see who could hit all four targets the fastest.
It wasn’t a fair fight.
Daniel obliterated Martin Havlat in the first round, going 4-for-4 in an NHL record 7.3 seconds. Daniel was done before Havlat had even hit his first target and the Wild winger could only laugh in disbelief.
(Henrik shows up in this clip, with a look on his face that says, “Ugh, I’m going to be hearing about this for years.”)
Then Daniel was matched up against Patrick Kane in the finals and once again dominated. Daniel went 4-for-5, barely taking any longer than he did in the first round. When Daniel hit his final target, Kane had still only hit one.
Man, that is still so satisfying to watch.
2 | Daniel scores four goals on the Red Wings
Just six players in Canucks history have scored four goals in a game: Greg Adams, Tony Tanti, Pavel Bure, Martin Gelinas, Markus Naslund, and Daniel Sedin.
Daniel’s four-goal game came towards the tail end of the 2003-04 season, which would be followed by the lockout year. After the lockout, Daniel and Henrik both took off running. Daniel recorded 71 points in 82 games as the torch was passed to him from Markus Naslund that season as the team’s predominant scoring winger.
Perhaps that four-goal game should have been a sign.
Notably, just one of the four goals was assisted by Henrik. The first goal is a nifty redirection from a bad angle of a Marek Malik pass that might have stuck in Daniel’s head as inspiration for the slap pass.
Then Daniel follows up a daring Nolan Baumgartner breakaway and finishes off Marek Malik’s centring pass. I wonder what Baumgartner the coach would think of Baumgartner the player and his defence partner both being below the opposing goal line like that.
On the third goal, Henrik makes a guest appearance with his lone assist, but it’s still all about Daniel. He cuts to the net, drags the puck around a pokecheck, then roofs it over Manny Legace. It’s a gorgeous goal for his first career hat trick.
Then, to top it off, Daniel scores goal number four into the empty net. This is noteworthy for a couple reasons: it was a one-goal game and the Sedins were on the ice in the final minute to defend the lead, but also, check out Todd Bertuzzi’s little hand-wave to Daniel as he picks up the puck in the neutral zone, making sure that Daniel doesn’t even think of passing the puck but goes for goal instead.
What a night.
4 | Daniel takes home the Art Ross and the Ted Lindsay Awards
I still contend that Daniel Sedin was robbed of the Hart Trophy by recency bias — Perry scored 19 of his 50 goals in the final month of the season — but in many ways the Ted Lindsay Award, voted on by the players rather than the media, has just as much prestige as the Hart.
Jay Mohr’s “bunk beds” jokes kind of ruined the presentation of the Art Ross Trophy, but Ted Lindsay himself was on hand to hand out the trophy that bears his name.
Once again, Daniel followed in the footsteps of Naslund, who previously won the award, though Naslund infamously didn’t win the Art Ross.
5 | Daniel sets the franchise record in power play goals
A lot of Daniel’s goals were scored into mostly empty nets, but it was usually his brother providing the pass. Not this time. Alex Burrows heads to the net, draws all the attention, then feeds Daniel at the backdoor.
The goal broke Markus Naslund’s franchise record for power play goals.
6 | Daniel sets the franchise record in goals
It wasn’t a pretty one, but it was significant, as this rebound finish on a Chris Tanev shot was Daniel’s 347th goal with the Canucks, passing Markus Naslund’s franchise record.
Daniel wasn’t following in Naslund’s footsteps any more.
This was definitely an individual achievement for Daniel, as this was one of the rare times Henrik was injured.
7 | Daniel hits 1000 career points
1000 career points is a huge milestone. Somehow it seems fitting that the team’s star goal-scoring winger of the future, Brock Boeser, had the primary assist on Daniel’s 1000th point.
8 | Daniel gets Brad Lukowich on the highlight reel
Not all of these are going to be milestone achievements. I also want to remember and celebrate great plays, and this is simply fantastic.
Remember the five minutes that Brad Lukowich was a member of the Vancouver Canucks? If you do, it’s likely because of his rapturous celebration of his one and only goal as a Canuck, that he only scored because of this absurd pass by Daniel.
When you watch the replays, look how often the cameraman has no idea where the puck is going to go. Daniel fakes shot and both the defenceman and the cameraman buy it completely. Then, when he drops it between his legs to the on-rushing Lukowich, the cameraman on the first replay is completely, hopelessly lost.
It was Lukowich’s first NHL goal in over two years and it stood up as the gamewinner.
9 | Daniel has soccer on the mind, heads the puck
This is one of my favourite Sedin moments, even if it was one of the few times the two weren’t on the same page. Not even Henrik anticipated that Daniel would see a puck lofted in the air towards him and head the puck into the offensive zone.
What Henrik should have done is keep going down the right wing; he would have been in the clear with the puck. Instead, he skates in behind Daniel, thinking that Daniel will make a more ordinary play.
Not Daniel. He’s all about the extraordinary. Or weird. Mostly weird.
10 | Daniel goes between-the-legs for the hat trick
This may have been the clincher in Henrik’s Art Ross win but it’s also a fantastic moment for Daniel Sedin individually. It's the greatest goal of Daniel Sedin's career, but it’s also one of the greatest Canucks goals of all time, if not the greatest. Daniel takes the pass, cuts to the net, and goes between his own legs to evade a poke check and roof the puck.
We’d seen players go between-the-legs prior to this goal and we’ve seen it plenty of times since, but this one remains special, the kind of split second decision-making, puck control, and finish that defined Daniel as a goalscorer.
