It is said that Daniel and Henrik Sedin share some sort of a dolphin-like communication. But if that were true, Radim Vrbata could surely acquire some sort of Rosetta Stone product to help his on-ice communication with the twins.
Players have confirmed it: There are no high-pitched squeals, or Bushman-like clicking sounds that initiate the famed Sedin cycle. So as he begins his PHD in Sedin Biology, new right-winger Vrbata simply starts with trying to discern when not to get involved with one of the twins’ rituals.
“Sometimes they have that cycle going that they are probably doing their whole life, and you don’t want to interrupt them. You don’t want to come close, or you will bring another defender there,” he has figured out. “You just let them do their work, and try to get open somewhere. And if you get open, they are pretty good at finding you.”
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Vrbata scored the goal that held up all night Friday in Edmonton, before assisting on Daniel’s empty netter in a 2-0 Canucks win. Vancouver’s top line had six points as the Canucks ran their record to 3-0, while Edmonton lost its fifth straight game — the worst start in franchise history.
Many have tried this spot, over the years, on the right flank of one of this generation’s most intuitive hockey duos. From Trent Klatt, to Alex Burrows, to Mason Raymond, to Taylor Pyatt, to both Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi, to Mikael Samuelsson.
Some were world class players, while some — like Jason King, who notched 11 goals in some 14 games, as is recalled — simply spawned world class nicknames. Two twins and a King became known as The Mattress Line.
Anson Carter scored 33 goals in his only season with the Sedins, then held out for too much money and lost his spot. Alas, greed cometh before a fall, as Carter played one more NHL season, scored 11 goals, and finished his career in Switzerland.
As for Vrbata, new GM Jim Benning may have hit the mother lode when he signed him as a free agent this summer (two years, US $10 million). Vrbata now has three goals in his first three Canucks games, though for now he’s just happy to watch that Sedin cycle from the other side now.
“It’s a lot better to be on this side of things when they start that cycle. You don’t have to feel embarrassed, trying to defend them.”
Vrbata, 33, has been a very good player for a long time, sequestered for years in the desert playing next to underrated centre Martin Hanzal, a fellow Czech. You may recall the run the Coyotes took to the Western Conference final in the spring of 2012, when Ray Whitney joined the two Czechs on a line.
“When you have that, it seems like hockey is easy.” It is never easy, history tells us however, for the one who lines up next to Daniel and Henrik in Vancouver.
“We have had a lot of different linemates,” Henrik told me once. “As soon as we switch linemates [the pressure comes]. It shouldn’t be that way. People coming into our line, all of the sudden they get a lot of pressure. ‘Can they score?’
“If they miss a good chance to score, he’s off the line, and the media gets all over him. It’s unfortunate the way it is, but it’s up to players to handle it.”
Vrbata is no pure sniper. He’s got 217 goals in 794 career NHL games, never scored more than twice in a playoff run, and somehow never found a spot on the Czech Olympic team. He’s jumped around the league — the Canucks are his sixth team — and suddenly, finds himself in a spot where all eyes west of the Rockies are focused.
“There is pressure just coming from Phoenix to Canada, and playing in (the Vancouver) market,” he said. “The first pre-season game we passed the puck, like, 100 times to each other. The second game we decided, someone has to shoot.
“I guess that somebody will be me.”