“They’ve been elite players for a long time,” New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said of Vancouver Canucks stars Henrik and Daniel Sedin last Thursday afternoon.
Vigneault coached the twins for eight years, back when they were in the business of putting up 100-point seasons and winning Art Ross trophies. As he stood behind the lectern at Madison Square Garden last week and praised his former superstars, Vigneault was blissfully unaware that several hours later the twins would combine for four points to lead the Canucks past his Rangers.
“We’re lucky they’re just twins and there’s not three of them,” Vigneault concluded with a laugh.
There may not be a third Sedin, but over the years the twins have proven themselves capable of making 30-goal scorers — or thereabouts — out of just about anybody. Just ask Taylor Pyatt. Or Anson Carter. Or Jason King.
“It doesn’t matter who they play with,” occasional Sedin twin linemate Jannik Hansen told Sportsnet on Sunday. “They’re going to take whoever they play with, make them better, and be a force offensively.”
Hansen is correct: the twins will get their looks and generate points no matter who is cast as their triggerman. Who the twins play with, though, does subtly seem to impact their results as well as their approach to the game.
Note: the tables in this piece include data sourced from hockeyanalysis.com. Using Henrik Sedin as a proxy for ‘playing with the twins,’ each table includes: the personal even-strength goal-scoring rate of each regular Sedin linemate (G/60); Vancouver’s on-ice goal differential when each regular Sedin linemate plays with Henrik (GD/60); Vancouver’s on-ice shot attempt differential (or Corsi) when each regular Sedin linemate plays with Henrik (Corsi-on/60); and Vancouver’s shot attempts for (or Corsi For) percentage when each particular Sedin linemate shares the ice with Henrik (CF%).
Radim Vrbata
| 5-on-5 (2014-15) | TOI | Goals/60 | GD/60 | Corsi-on/60 | CF% |
| Vrbata with the twins | 531: 05 | 1.13 | 0.67 | 8.13 | 53.9 |
Radim Vrbata has been riding shotgun with the twins for most of the year.
“Ever since we got put together in training camp we’ve been on the same page, and we clicked,” Vrbata told Sportsnet this weekend. “They play a unique game, so you have to kind of read what they want to do. Sometimes you need to let them be alone, do their stuff and get open somewhere. Sometimes you have to help them. It’s all about reads with them.”
Vrbata takes shots on goal at an extremely high rate, and has manufactured goals at an elite rate at 5-on-5 when playing with Henrik and Daniel this season.
“He likes to find those areas where he likes the puck, and he’s got a great shot and he’s a great goal scorer,” Henrik said of playing with a shoot-from-anywhere type like Vrbata.
“So for us it’s more about getting in on the forecheck, trying to win battles and get the puck to him. Whereas when we play with other guys, they do more of that dirty work and we can find those areas.”
With lurker’s instincts and veteran savvy, Vrbata has shown an uncanny ability to help the twins distract defenders and get open. An example of that is on this goal from early in the season, where Vrbata followed Daniel to the back of the net, leaving Edmonton Oilers defender Mark Fayne hopelessly confused:
Alex Burrows
| 5-on-5 (2014-15) | TOI | Goals/60 | GD/60 | Corsi-on/60 | CF% |
| Burr w. Sedins | 1665: 41 | 0.97 | 1.23 | 19.34 | 59.2 |
The Canucks were mired in a franchise-record losing streak during the 2008-09 season when Alain Vigneault decided to try a bottom-six grinder named Alex Burrows with the twins. Six years and nearly 150 goals later, Burrows is still a mainstay on Vancouver’s top line.
Though the Canucks have brought in any number of players to play with the twins over the years–Mikael Samuelsson and Vrbata, for instance–Burrows seems magnetized to their wing.
“We’ve played together for… years, so it’s not like any other guy,” Daniel said of playing with Burrows.
That familiarity matters, especially for the twins–two extraordinary athletes who have spent their entire lives years perfecting set plays and mastering hockey geometry.
“He’s a smart hockey player, that’s the number one thing,” continued Daniel. “As a line we’re not the fastest guys. We don’t have the best shots, but we work for each other out there and that’s what makes us successful.”
Burrows doesn’t score goals with the twins at the rate that Vrbata has; his impact is more on the other side of the puck.
“You can maybe dump pucks and you know he’s going to get in there and battle and you can read off him,” Daniel said of playing with Burrows. “It makes a huge difference.”
What’s kept Burrows with the twins, despite the aspirations of newer, pricier additions, is that he helps the Sedins control play to an unprecedented degree. For years fans, media and even multiple Canucks executives have been looking for that pure sniper to play with the twins, but they’ve generally been most effective when Burrows — an unheralded defensive ace — has played on their wing.
Here’s a fine example of how Burrows’ ability to win battles and his preternatural familiarity with the twins can pay off: Earlier this month against the Minnesota Wild, Burrows won a puck battle against a pinching Ryan Suter and sent a perfect back-pass into the neutral zone to set up a two-on-one that Henrik capitalized on:
Zack Kassian
| 5-on-5 (2014-15) | TOI | Goals/60 | GD/60 | Corsi-on/60 | CF% |
| Kassian w. the twins | 250: 59 | 1.43 | 1.67 | 11.47 | 55.5 |
On the Canucks’ current road trip, Zack Kassian has three goals — and all of them have been scored when he’s shared the ice with the twins.
From his size to his speed to his passing ability, Kassian is the prototypical Sedin linemate — though he’s rarely received the opportunity to play with them for an extended period of time.
That’s probably due to his lack of consistency. Or his defensive struggles.
In comparison with Burrows, for example, the Canucks surrender four additional shot attempts against per 60 minutes of five-on-five ice time when Kassian plays on a line with the twins.
“He shouldn’t feel the pressure to produce offensively. His focus should be on just playing well defensively,” Daniel said of Kassian. “He’s so big and so skilled and so strong, he’s going to get chances offensively. He doesn’t have to worry about that, so long as he takes steps in that department, he’s going to be a force.”
When the Sedins and Kassian are set up in their cycle game, it’s extraordinarily difficult to disrupt.
“It makes it easy for me and Danny,” Henrik said of playing with Kassian. “We can give him the puck and try to get away a little bit and find those soft areas. He’s doing a good job of holding onto the puck, so that helps us.”
Kassian knows that when he’s with the twins, he just has to keep it simple.
“I just have to be physical when the opportunity is there, hold on to pucks, and go to the net,” Kassian said. “They’ll find you.”
They certainly will:
