SEDINS’ TIME TO SHRINE
Twins set to join B.C. hockey hall
Daniel Sedin hasn’t yet gone for black diamond runs in his return to skiing, but he’s getting close, he admits.
“I’m getting there,” he said with a laugh Monday morning.
Daniel and Henrik Sedin were back in their old haunts at Rogers Arena on Monday for a special announcement: the twins are being inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Also in the 2019 class, who will be honoured at a dinner in July at Penticton’s Lakeside Resort, are Canucks scout and former player Ron Delorme, former St. Louis Blues defenceman Barret Jackman, women’s hockey builder Karen Wallace, former NHL linesman Shane Heyer and the 1997-98 Royal Bank Cup national champion Surrey Eagles.
It was announced earlier this season that the twins also are being inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame this summer. All this for stellar 17-season NHL careers that saw each win an Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion and Henrik a Hart Trophy as NHL MVP (in 2009-10) and Daniel a Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL Players’ Association’s most outstanding player (in 2010-11).
Since retiring following the 2017-18 season, the Sedins have been busy.
They’ve done family life to the max: taking their kids to school, helping with their youth sports teams, running errands, doing work around the house, training for the BMO Vancouver Marathon and, yes, going skiing.
“This year has been amazing to be able to live in the city and do everything we’ve always wanted to do and just live everyday life with family; it’s been better than expected,” Henrik told the assembled media.
“It’s been really easy. We were mentally prepared to retire, it wasn’t like anyone forced us out,” he said. “We still enjoyed hockey; we really enjoyed the coaching staff that came in, but we had made up our minds.
“It’s helped that we’ve stuck around. We’re still living here and we can come down as much as we can and whenever we want to. We see the guys a lot and talk to the coaches and the staff; it still feels like we still have that part of the life, which is what I think most guys miss when they’re done.”
Daniel said he wasn’t surprised Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson has had no trouble transitioning to the NHL.
“Nothing is impossible for that guy,” he said. “When you play in Sweden and you’re that good ... you’re already a good player.”
And while they do visit their old rink often, the first time back on skates for Daniel since he retired last spring was the recent Canucks Autism Network pro-am charity tournament. Henrik is on skates fairly often as he is helping with the team one of his sons plays on.
“We feel like Vancouverites,” Henrik said.
To satisfy their competitive juices, their athletic energies have been focused on running.
They’ve been spotted in many weekend races, both on trails and on more conventional road courses. Witnesses often make note of how the brothers always manage a race for the finish.
This past weekend, they were meant to run in a half-marathon, an important milestone in their training for the 42-kilometre race in May, but it wasn’t inclement weather that stopped them. Rather, it was Daniel suffering a hamstring pull last week.
Running always would have been a big part of their lives, Henrik said.
“That was always a big part of our training in the summer,” he said. “A lot of players don’t do that because of their knees or they ’re too heavy, but we always did.”
Their training runs happen most mornings after they’ve dropped their kids off at school — Henrik has two boys, Valter, 12, and Harry, 7; Daniel has two daughters, Ronja, 13 and Anna, 7, plus a 10-year-old son, Erik — then it’s time for lunch. Afternoons are housework or errands before picking the kids back up from school.
Then afternoons are filled with schoolwork and their kids’ sports: hockey, soccer and basketball.
“Time flies, there’s not a lot of time to dwell on (being retired for nearly a full season already),” Daniel said.
Being inducted into any hall of fame “means a lot,” Henrik said.
“Growing up in a small city in Sweden, then to get to play over here and to get inducted, especially with the teammates who are in there already ... it’s a great honour,” he said. “We woke up every morning and we came in and we played hockey and tried to do the best that we can ... that’s all we thought of.”
“B.C. has always been extremely good to us,” Daniel said.
EDLER AND BAERTSCHI STILL OUT OF ACTION
Canucks head coach Travis Green said there was no update on defenceman Alex Edler’s health status.
“Day-to-day, week-to-week,” he said of Edler, who suffered a concussion when he hit his face on the ice in Philadelphia a week ago.
Edler won’t travel with the team to California this week.
And the news on Sven Baertschi, who has been diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, was in a similar vein.
“He’s OK,” Green said of the Swiss winger, who started feeling unwell just over a week ago and was diagnosed mid-week with postconcussion syndrome, related to a hit in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights last October.
“Dealing with concussion and post-concussion isn’t easy, and I’ll leave it at that,” the coach said.