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Iwona Erskine-Kellie from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sedins 12-2007, CC BY 2.0
Much like father and son duos (see Bobby and Brett Hull), there have been many great sibling combos in sports history, from Peyton and Eli Manning in football to Pau and Marc Gasol in basketball to the Alou and DiMaggio brothers in baseball to Phil and Tony Esposito in hockey, etc. Go a step further and there have even been numerous accomplished sets of identical twins (Ronde and Tiki Barber, Brook and Robin Lopez, etc.) – however with the exception of doubles partners Bob and Mike Bryan in tennis, perhaps no brothers/identical twins have had their careers quite as intertwined as Daniel and Henrik Sedin. As long-time stalwarts for the Vancouver Canucks, the brothers were drafted together, played their entire careers with the Canucks together, and retired together. Given how closely their careers were linked (you could almost say they were identical…), naturally one might ask:
Who was better – Daniel Sedin or Henrik Sedin?
The Beginning
Growing up and playing hockey together in their native Sweden, it would take a fortunate series of events for Daniel and Henrik Sedin to end up playing on the same NHL team and the same line.
At the age of 16, both Daniel and Henrik started playing for MoDo Hockey in the Swedish Elite League and were co-winners of the Golden Puck in 1999 for Swedish Player of the Year. As top-rated players in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, the Sedins wanted to play together, but were expecting to be drafted by different teams; instead, with Vancouver already holding the third overall pick in the draft, Canucks general manager Brian Burke made a series of trades to also land the second overall pick:
- Traded defenseman Bryan McCabe and a future first round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the fourth overall pick
- Traded the fourth overall pick and two additional later round draft picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first overall pick
- Traded the first overall pick and an additional draft pick to the Atlanta Thrashers (the current Winnipeg Jets) for the second overall pick and assurances that the Thrashers would not draft one of the Sedin twins (they instead drafted Patrik Stefan, who ended up being one of the biggest busts in NHL history)
With that, Vancouver was able to draft Daniel second overall and Henrik third, though the twins played one more season with MoDo in Sweden before joining the Canucks for the 2000-2001 season.
Playing together as left wing and center, respectively, Daniel and Henrik struggled initially, both scoring in the 30 to 40-point range for their first three seasons, and playing behind the Canucks’ top line of fellow Swede Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison. As second-liners on the so-called “Mattress Line” with Jason King (two twins and a king!), they improved in 2003-2004 to 54 points for Daniel (18 goals, 36 assists) and 42 points for Henrik (11 goals, 31 assists) before the lock-out in 2004-2005 led to them returning to MoDo in Sweden (along with Naslund).
Career Comparison
Post-lockout, the Sedins would return to the NHL and begin hitting their strides (together, of course). From playing a supporting role in the early part of their careers, the twins would gradually emerge as the leaders of the Canucks and achieve their greatest successes individually and as a team.
In their first season back in 2005-2006, both would hit the 70-point mark for the first time in their career: 71 points (22 goals and 49 assists) for Daniel and 75 points (18 goals and 57 assists) for Henrik. From there, the brothers would embark on a period of consistent excellence, with both recording three further 70-point seasons from 2006-2007 to 2008-2009, including identical 82-point seasons in 2008-2009 (though on 31 goals and 51 assists for Daniel vs. 22 goals and 60 assists for Henrik).
The 2009-2010 season would be the start of a magical two-year stretch for the Sedin brothers. That year, Daniel recorded 29 goals and 56 assists for 85 points, while Henrik rose to even greater heights and had a career year with 29 goals and 83 assists for 112 points (all career highs, and also breaking Pavel Bure’s franchise record for points in a season); Henrik also took home both the Ross Trophy for top point scorer and the Hart Trophy for league MVP. The next year, the tables were reversed, with Daniel establishing career highs with 41 goals and 63 assists for 104 points, and winning both the Ross Trophy and the Pearson Award (now known as the Lindsay Award) for most outstanding player in the regular season, while finishing second in the Hart voting. Henrik had another strong season as well, with 19 goals and 75 assists for 94 points. Moreover, at the start of the 2010-2011 season, Henrik would become the 13th captain of the Vancouver Canucks and serve in that capacity until his retirement, with Daniel being an alternate captain.
The Sedins followed up in 2011-2012 with another strong campaign (30 goals and 37 assists for 67 points for Daniel and 14 goals and 67 assists for 81 points for Henrik), and would continue to be valuable contributors for Vancouver, but their prime was behind them. They both had great seasons again in 2014-2015, with 76 points for Daniel (20 goals and 56 assists) and 73 points for Henrik (18 goals and 55 assists), but over their last couple of seasons, both would score in the 45 to 60-point range while serving as elder statesmen for the Canucks. In April of the 2017-2018 season, the Sedins announced that they would be retiring at season’s end; in a perfect storybook ending, during their final home game in Vancouver against the Arizona Coyotes, Daniel scored two goals assisted by Henrik, including the overtime game-winner. At the end of the season, the Sedins were co-winners of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for the player that “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community”, the first brothers ever to share the award.
In comparing the Sedin twins side-by-side, their career numbers are almost identical. Over the same 17 seasons, Henrik played slightly more games (1,330 to 1,306) and recorded more assists (830 to 648), points (1,070 to 1,041), and had a better +/- rating (+165 to +147), while Daniel scored more goals (393 to 240). Overall, Daniel had seven 70-point seasons vs. eight for Henrik and both had one 100-point season, and averaged a nearly identical 0.80 points per game (though obviously more goals for Daniel vs. assists for Henrik); moreover, if you perform a linear regression between their annual point totals, there is a very strong 0.84 r-squared value that shows not only correlation, but is highly causal given they played together their entire careers. On the awards and honors front, both players were 3x All-Stars and 1x Ross Trophy winners, with Henrik winning a Hart Trophy vs. Daniel’s Pearson (though as mentioned, he finished second for the Hart that year).
Regular Season Statistics
| Daniel Sedin | Player | Henrik Sedin |
| 17 (2000-2018) | Seasons | 17 (2000-2018) |
| 1,306 | Games Played | 1,330 |
| 393 | Goals | 240 |
| 648 | Assists | 830 |
| 1,041 | Points | 1,070 |
| +147 | +/- | +165 |
| 3x | All-Star Games | 3x |
| – | Hart Trophies | 1x |
| 1x | Ross Trophies | 1x |
| – | Stanley Cups | – |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| 1x Clancy, 1x Pearson | Other Awards | 2x Clancy |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Together, the Sedin twins helped Vancouver achieve some of its greatest playoff successes since making the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994, though in 11 career postseason appearances, they would fall just short of capturing the franchise’s first-ever championship. The best chance came during the 2010-2011 season, when Vancouver won the President’s Trophy for best regular season record and as the top seed in the Western Conference, made it to the Stanley Cup Finals vs. the Boston Bruins; however despite a 3-2 series lead, they would lose Games 6 and 7 to fall in seven games. Individually, it was also the Sedins’ best statistical postseason, with both finishing among the top five in postseason scoring – 20 points for Daniel (9 goals and 11 assists) and 22 points for Henrik (3 goals and 19 assists).
In addition to the NHL, the twins were also frequent participants for their native Sweden in international competitions and achieved great success for their country. This included winning the gold medal in hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and gold at the 2013 IIHF World Championship; in addition, they helped Sweden take home bronze at both the 1999 and 2001 IIHF World Championships, and Daniel also won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia (Henrik did not play due to injury).
Playoff Statistics
| Daniel Sedin | Player | Henrik Sedin |
| 102 | Games Played | 105 |
| 25 | Goals | 23 |
| 46 | Assists | 55 |
| 71 | Points | 78 |
| -12 | +/- | -16 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; this career arc plays out perfectly in the intertwined careers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Daniel Sedin | Player | Henrik Sedin |
| 2005-2013, 2014-2016 | Decade of Dominance | 2005-2013, 2014-2016 |
| 755 | Games Played | 778 |
| 278 | Goals | 167 |
| 466 | Assists | 607 |
| 744 | Points | 774 |
| +160 | +/- | +172 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
As you would expect, even when you isolate their careers to the decades of dominance, the numbers for Daniel and Henrik are basically a draw – separated by only 23 games played and 30 total points, Daniel again has the edge in goals vs. Henrik having the lead in assists, points, and +/- rating. On a per-game basis, each is essentially a point-per-game producer (again, an identical 0.99 points per game). Whether or not the twins make the Hockey Hall of Fame remains to be seen, but they will nevertheless be two of the greatest players in Vancouver Canucks history.
My Thoughts
Looking at the near-identical careers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, perhaps no two players in NHL history have ever had (or will ever have) as symbiotic a relationship as these two (Henrik being the playmaker and Daniel being the goal scorer/finisher). A unique set of circumstances brought them together as NHL teammates and allowed them to skate alongside each other for their entire careers – while it is possible both would have had good careers separately, no doubt each elevated the other one’s game immensely. Trying to decide which Sedin twin had a better career is like trying to split hairs here, but on the margins, Henrik had nominally better health and career numbers, and would reach his peak MVP-level form slightly ahead of Daniel; thus, I would say Henrik has a razor-thin edge over Daniel, but this is probably the closest head-to-head matchup we have ever had (and may ever have).
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Henrik Sedin
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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