Player Profiles – Daniel Sedin

What would have happened if Daniel didn’t get hurt last year? What if he didn’t miss almost 20 games to injury? What would his numbers have been? What would Henrik’s have been? Would Daniel have won the Art Ross or the Hart instead of Henrik?

Canucks fans can ask a lot of questions about Daniel’s missed opportunities last season, because of his absense. One thing that they cannot question is Daniel’s emergence as an elite NHL goal scorer.

So what on earth does Daniel Sedin do for an encore? Simple.

Born in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden with twin brother Henrik (OBVIOUSLY!), Daniel Sedin started his professional career playing for his hometown MoDo in the Swedish Elite League. In 2000, he and Henrik came to North America to play full-time with the Vancouver Canucks. For his first three seasons, Daniel was an average contributor on the scoresheet, averaging 33 points a season. The 2003-04 season saw the beginning of the emergence of Daniel as a steadily improving NHL player, as he started to play more minutes. SInce then, he has improved his stats every year (with a minor blip downward in 07-08). Last year, despite the injury that saw him missed 19 regular season games, Daniel become an elite scorer in the league. His PPG total ranks him 3rd in the NHL, behind Alexander Ovechkin and Henrik. This year, many Canucks fans expect to see both Daniel and Henrik remain at the top of the scoring table all year long.

Oh and by the way – he scored the Goal of the Year last season, and arguably the greatest regular season goal in Canucks history. Watch here.

Points per game: 1.35 (Rank 3rd in NHL)

Even-Strength points per game: 64 pts in 63 GP. 1.016 PPG (1st in NHL)

CORSI ON: 15.72 (15th NHL, 1st VAN)

Points over 60 min played: 4.04 (1st NHL)

Team Goals For when on-ice (over 60 mins played): 5.15 (1st NHL)

Daniel Sedin was a point-producing and statistical machine last season. Want even more proof? He finished 4th in even-strength points, despite missing almost 20 games! He proved that he and brother Henrik were bonafide stars in this league. Their points produced over 60 minutes played are staggering statistical numbers, because they FAR exceed their next closest competitors. But now, Canucks fans are looking for more.

Daniel will certainly try to remain healthy for a full season this year. He’ll be looking to match, if not surpass, his brother’s historic season from last year. It will be great for Canucks fans to see Daniel top the 100 point plateau and aime for a scoring title, officially proving that he is one of the elite players in the NHL.

That aside, the pressure is on the Sedins to produce in the playoffs. To produce early, often and right through until they are lifting the Stanley Cup. Statistically, Daniel has improved each and every year that he has been in the playoffs. That’s great, because it proves that there is still room to grow for any NHL player. But Daniel needs to show that he can score the important goal at the most critical time and get the Canucks past the second round.

Although not quite to the same degree as Henrik, regular season stats are almost useless and unimportant for Daniel Sedin at this point. He has to prove that he can be the Canucks leading scorer through 4 playoff rounds. If he can do that, we may see the most important silverware in Canucks history finally make its way to Vancouver.