Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Who would have thought that Henrik would be an Art Ross candidate without Daniel?

EDMONTON — It seems like years ago now that we still doubted whether or not the Sedin twins brought the full package.

It seems like years since the jury was still out on whether the twins were true leaders, whether they had the game to take the Canucks three or more rounds deep into the playoffs.

In fact, it was April of ’07 when their own head coach was questioning whether they had what it takes to win big games come springtime.

"You don’t see a lot of bang-bang, tic-tac-toe plays," Vigneault said that day, couching a critique of the Sedins’ game inside a rant on the Canucks power play. "In playoffs you see guys put pucks to the net, go to those tough areas, take a couple of whacks or cross checks and find a way to put in the first, or second, or third rebound. Our players who are playing the power play need to do that for us.

"They’ve had success during the season doing maybe something else," Vigneault said, "and right now that something else isn’t working. You have to make adjustments in your play."

Well, the next spring the Sedins were both point-per-game players, sharing 20 points in 10 Canucks playoffs games and taking the team into Round 2.

Wednesday night in Edmonton the twins had all four Canucks assists in a game that went into OT tied 2-2. Then, when Oilers defenceman Denis Grebeshkov took a questionable tripping penalty in OT, they hopped over the boards one final time.

It was a fait accompli, really. And everyone in the house knew it.

It would be Daniel who dealt Edmonton its death blow, calmly tapping in a cross-ice pass from Henrik, as the two counted three power play points apiece in a 3-2 Vancouver win.

They were great on the night, perhaps even better on the season, where Henrik has shown us something that we’d never really considered.

We always knew the Sedins would be top line NHL players for years to come. But did anyone ever view either of them as Art Ross candidates?

Somehow, despite the loss of Daniel for 18 games this season with a broken foot, Henrik finds himself atop the NHL scoring race with 70 points (21-49) in just 50 games.

Just when the hockey "experts" were thinking that the loss of Daniel would hurt Henrik’s production, somehow it went up.

The Sedins have proved us wrong again.

"We’re twins, we had rarely been injured before," Henrik said Wednesday. "People are going to assume that ... we can’t play with other players. I think it is natural."

Perhaps the last remaining element of these 29-year-old’s game was to prove that they could play apart from each other. Because, as teammates Ryan Kesler says, "It helps when you play with you linemate your whole life."

Today, you can throw that criticism on to the pile with all the others these two have faced over the years. The only question left to be asked now is this: If Daniel — who has 42 points in 31 games — hadn’t missed 18 games this season, would Henrik have 12 or 15 more points?

And given their history of finishing within a few points of each other — both had 82 points in 82 games last season, plus 10 in 10 playoff games – would Daniel not be sitting right alongside Henrik atop the scoring race?

"I think Danny would actually be first. Henrik would be second. I don’t think Henrik would have as many goals," offered Kesler of Henrik’s career-high pace of 21 goals thus far. "They’re not surprising me. With Burr (Alex Burrows), they’ve got one of the best lines in the NHL right now. I think they rival the (Joe) Thornton line."

The last player from a Canadian team to win the scoring title was Jarome Iginla in 2001-02. It was the height of the dead puck era, and Iginla won it with 96 points (52 goals). Since the overhaul of the NHL’s rule book during the 2004-05 lockout, the lowest point total to win the Art Ross was Alex Ovechkin’s 112 points two seasons ago.

People are sniffing around the angle that perhaps the respite from Daniel was good for Henrik’s game.

Not so fast, says Vigneault.

"The point production was still there (for Henrik), but the amount of time we would spend in the other team’s zone — puck possession time — was not nearly as good as when his brother was there," Vigneault said. "I do think it ... permitted him to think about shooting the puck a bit more.

"If they would have been together, they’d both be pretty close to the same number of points. I do know that — they’re better together. We’re a better team when they’re together, than when one of them is missing."

Ask the Oilers. They would agree.