Vancouver Canucks: Henrik and Daniel Sedin Need to Produce Again
Vancouver Canucks forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin usually do everything together, but lately, Daniel is not performing as well as his twin brother.
These are strange times for the Vancouver Canucks.
For starters, the team just lost their first game since Christmas. Earlier in the year, they had lost nine straight games. For that same team to later pull off a six-game win streak was pretty remarkable.
That should be cause for at least a minor celebration, right?
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Well, apparently not. Many people in Vancouver seemed determined to disbelieve what they were seeing their team accomplish.
There was good reason to disbelieve it, mind you. The best example of this came in the final win of the streak. Despite the Calgary Flames utterly destroying them on the shot clock, the Canucks still pulled off a seemingly impossible win, thanks to Ryan Miller and Markus Granlund.
Believable or not, the streak has now come to an end. It remains to be seen whether an extended losing streak will follow.
Sedin Struggles
Another strange sight: for the last month, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin have not been the Canucks’ best offensive players.
Instead, Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi have led the charge. They have combined for 25 points in the last 15 games for Vancouver. Henrik is next with nine points.
You probably expect Daniel to be right behind his brother in scoring during the last 30 days. But he isn’t — he’s eighth on the list, with only five points in the last 15 games.
Additionally, in that same time he took seven minor penalties (only Nikita Tryamkin took more). These are uncharacteristic numbers from Daniel, who has been the Canucks’ best goal scorer for almost a decade, and is usually drawing penalties, not taking them.
The gap between the two twins is a bit unusual. But, it is probably due to the fact that Henrik has four secondary assists, which are inflating his numbers.
The rest could have something to do with the Sedins’ new linemate:
and to think some of us thought sutter with the twins was bad, now i hope to see it again pic.twitter.com/LE1Ic06zYy
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) January 8, 2017
With shot-attempt numbers that bad, it’s no wonder the twins have only combined for three assists in their last five.
But even if Jayson Megna is dragging down both twins, he was only on their line for six games. The Sedins were cooling off before the latest injury Jannik Hansen. Perhaps it is simply a run of bad luck. Daniel’s shooting percentage in the last 15 games is only 6.7% — well below his career average of 11.5%.
Either way, Vancouver needs their two best scorers to produce again.
It’s great to see Baertschi and Horvat carry the team this last month. But if the twins stay unproductive for much longer, the Vancouver Canucks could be in trouble.
