TORONTO — If you watched Sweden defeat Finland at the World Cup of Hockey Tuesday afternoon, you saw the Sedin twins’ innate ability to set up one of their teammates for a goal.
Henrik Sedin bodied his man in the corner to get the puck and passed it to Daniel Sedin, using the boards as if it were another teammate. Daniel then did the same thing as Henrik cycled behind the net. He found Anton Stralman who buried it past Tuukka Rask for what ended up being a game-winning goal.
“Obviously Hank is amazing behind the net,” Daniel said after the game. “I know if I can find him and give him some time he’s going to make a great play and that’s what happened.”
We’ve seen the duo makes plays like that umpteen times throughout their careers, but what makes that goal special is the fact that this tournament could very well be one of the last times we see the Sedins representing Sweden. The soon-to-be 36-year-olds don’t have too many international tournaments left in them.
Ever since they helped lead Sweden to a gold medal at the 1998 European U-18 Junior Championships, the Vancouver Canucks stars have represented their country with pride.
“They’ve meant a lot to the Swedish program the way they’ve been playing both for the national team and with the Canucks,” former Olympic teammate and Team Sweden senior advisor Nicklas Lidstrom told Sportsnet. “The way they’ve handled themselves and gotten better and better since they came into the league…I haven’t heard about this being their last big tournament and whatnot but I know they want to be successful and I know they’ve been very important to Swedish hockey for many years.”
The Ornskoldsvik natives won Olympic gold in 2006 and a world championship in 2013, combining for 15 points in just four games in that 2013 tournament. They’re now hoping to add a World Cup to their list of accomplishments.
Despite being two of the oldest players in the tournament, playing on a line with new Canucks teammate Loui Eriksson, the Sedins have been excellent through two games at Air Canada Centre. They might not be as quick as they once were but their hockey IQ is still off the charts.
“Their chemistry, they know each other inside and out, but it’s their hockey sense and their awareness on the ice that really stands out to me — not just between themselves but between the other forward on their line or the defence pairing,” said Daniel Alfredsson. “It looks so easy at times. Sometimes they throw it behind their back but there’s always a plan. They’re extremely smart. It’s fun to watch and frustrating to play against.”
Lidstrom echoed that sentiment.
“It’s hard to defend because they always have the knack of knowing where the other guy is all the time,” the seven-time Norris winner said. “They’re throwing the puck behind their backs, they’re laying the puck where guys will skate into it. When you’re sitting upstairs and watching from above you can see the plays developing and see how they’ll wait for an out to make the pass and sometimes you wonder how he knew he was going to be there but they have that chemistry amongst the two of them that makes it very hard to defend.”
Canucks president of hockey operations Trevor Linden has gotten to know the Sedins on and off the ice over the years and speaks glowingly of them.
“I came back to Vancouver in 2001. They were in their second year trying to figure things out,” Linden said. “I got to play with them, recognized very quickly that these guys are so competitive, tough guys, play in traffic, and I’ve been able to watch them win Hart Trophies and Art Ross Trophies and become leaders. I think the special thing about them is I don’t think there’s any combination in the league that has innate ability to find one another and play that style. It’s so unique to them because they don’t do it from a place of power and speed, they do it from a place of thoughtful creativity and knowing where the other’s going to be and I don’t think the league has ever seen anything like this before and we’ll probably go a long time before we see anything like this again.
“It’s so much fun to watch these guys because they do things differently than the other great players in the game and that’s what’s really unique about them. As people, I can’t say enough about them as humans and leaders. I’ve got a ton of respect for them, as you can tell, and this is coming from having played with them and now having worked with them on this side.”
Sportsnet’s Mark Spector recently wrote a great piece on the Sedins’ foggy long-term future in Vancouver. Let’s also embrace what the Sedins are doing at the 2016 World Cup because we may not get the chance to see them work their magic while wearing Team Sweden garb too many more times.
