Henrik Sedin named Captain of Sweden; Daniel to wear A

Photo Credit: Adam Hunger/USA TODAY SPORTS

If any of you were planning on picking up a Team Sweden jersey ahead of this year’s World Cup of Hockey, you’ll notice that they’ll look a little closer to your Canucks jersey than initially anticipated. Not that that’s a bad thing; quite the opposite really, as the Sedin Twins will wear their NHL letters on their international jerseys later this month.

Henrik wasn’t Sweden’s first choice for the letter, but anybody who has watched the Canucks play since the C was placed on his chest in 2010/11 and even prior to that would agree that he is a more than deserving recipient. Prior to this, he had never worn a letter in his 107 international games played; surprising for a 35-year-old with 10 years of contributed service, including an Olympic Gold Medal in 2006.

Joining him will be his brother Daniel, who will share the responsibilities of being an alternate captain with Ottawa Senators defenceman and captain Erik Karlsson. This is also Daniel’s first time wearing an international letter after 108 international games and six seasons of being in a leadership role with the Canucks.

“I would never imagine I would ever have the ‘C’ on my jersey for the national team, especially in a tournament like this,” Henrik said to NHL.com this morning. “As a kid you first dreamt about playing for MODO, your hometown team. Once you do that, of course it’s the national team, but we’ve never seen ourselves as guys who are going to be stars.”

He also pointed out that leadership in the room will likely come by committee, something that typically happens in shorter term, super-team international tournaments like this. Either way, it’s cool to see both brothers get a bit more recognition outside of Vancouver.