When you think of the faces of the Vancouver Canucks franchise, you think of Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
The twins have been playing together in Vancouver since 2000, and once Markus Naslund left after the 2007-08 season, they took over and led the Canucks to the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
In less than a year, though, the Sedin twins will be unrestricted free agents and their time in Vancouver could come to an end. Hockey is, after all, a business at the end of the day and Daniel and Henrik aren't getting any younger.
That said, both players want nothing more than to win a Cup in Vancouver and that's something they explained further in their Players' Tribune piece titled "Dear Vancouver."
Daniel
When the time is right, we will sit down with management and discuss it. People say our window for winning a Cup has closed, but we have said it before, and we will say it again. We won’t play anywhere else. If we are going to win a Stanley Cup, if we are going to achieve our dream, we’d only want it to be in Vancouver. If we did it anywhere else, I don’t think it would feel the same.
Daniel and Henrik also discussed playing against Joe Thornton before playing in the NHL:
Daniel
Joe Thornton.
Henrik
Joe Thornton. He was a year older than us, but he was like a man among boys. He was just huge. Every time I got close to him, he’d knock me right off the puck.
Daniel
I remember sitting on the bench watching him, thinking, How good is this guy? We are seriously going to play in the same league? It was kind of a whirlwind.
Sure enough, both players found a way to succeed at a high level in the NHL, and in the piece they credited Anson Carter for helping them.Henrik
He knew how to be successful in the league. He helped us work on our cycle game down low because he gave us that confidence to get in those gritty areas and be physical. He was sort of the opposite of us.
Daniel
When we started playing with Anson, it was an eye-opener for me. That’s when I realized that we really can play in this league, and we can be really good. Before that season, every time we would go back to Sweden in the summer, a part of me would think, Can we really do this? Should we just stay here? Everything clicked for us because of Anson. He’s probably why we’re still here at 36 years old.
The twins also touched on the Stanley Cup run in 2011, the riots that followed the loss and how supportive the city was.
Daniel
It’s still hard to talk about what happened against Boston in the Finals. It was like climbing to the top of Mt. Everest and then having to turn around with four feet left.
Henrik
After Game 2, when we went up 2-0, we didn’t let our minds wander. We were focused heading over to Boston. It’s just … I’m not sure — it’s hockey. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. I try to remember all the good from those few weeks. The fans on the street, the atmosphere, the celebration.
Daniel
We went up to a suite after Game 7 with our families to eat some dinner. Watching the smoke rise from the riots and seeing everything happen on TV — it just broke my heart. I felt empty.
Henrik
It was just some people acting stupid. What people don’t understand, and what I want them to understand, is how supportive everyone was to us in the weeks after the Finals. It was such a roller coaster ride that month. I was just exhausted. Mentally, physically, I didn’t have anything left. It’s the hardest trophy in the world to win and when you’re that close … “hurts” isn’t the right word. It’s beyond that. But we still had to take our kids to school. We had to go out into the world. And everyone we met was really supportive. Not a single person said a bad word to me. Just support, support, support. We will never forget that.
Vancouver is home for both Henrik and Daniel, and whether they accomplish their goal of winning a Cup for the Canucks or not, they'll always be cherished by fans for what they've done both on the ice and more importantly in the community.
To read the full Players' Tribune piece, click here!
(H/T: The Players' Tribune)
