Saturday Roundtable: Sedinery

It’s not supposed to work this way, ladies and gents. At a certain age, players are supposed to decline, not mature like a fine wine. Alas, nobody has informed Daniel and Henrik Sedin of this fact, as the two continue to play some of the best hockey of their career at the age of 35. Daniel has been particularly impressive, putting up eleven goals and sixteen assists in 24 games.

But where does the madness end? How many pucks can number twenty-two throw in the back of the net before April ends? The roundtable gives their thoughts below.

I’ve always thought the Sedins would stand the test of time much better than their peers and the start to this season hasn’t suggested anything to the contrary. I mean, so little of their game is based on skills which decline with age – speed, a hard shot, physicality, etc. Anyways, I’d like to think he’ll finish somewhere in the 20-25 range. That would be pretty solid production, by my reckoning.

The Sedins must be on to some Jagr magic because they seem to be even better this year than last – which at 35 make approximately zero sense. Daniel Sedin, who is supposed to be Henrik 2.0 thanks to that jerk Duncan Keith, is suddenly on pace for his highest goals (and points) total since his Art Ross season. That may be a little too ambitious, but something seems to have clicked with Dank this season, and I don’t want to count him out. Ever the optimist, I’m going to estimate Danny’s final tally at 31 goals, with a late season push. Much like he scored goals in the final four games last season to hit 20, I imagine some similar magic with him sitting on 27 goals with 5 or 6 games to go. Never discount Sedinery!

There will come a day when the Sedins will no longer be a part of the Vancouver sports landscape and we will tell our children unbelievable tales about how sensational these twins from Ornskoldsvik were. Well, they’re still doing those amazing things, and they’re doing it at 35. Go take your kids to watch them while you can. Daniel may not continue on the 36 goal pace he’s currently on, my bet is he’ll land at around 28, which when you think about it is pretty exceptional

I’ll say 44 because he’s got 11 right now and the season is basically 1/4 done and 4 x 10 is 44!

He may hit thirty this year because things have been clicking for the Sedins so far. Then again, he and his brother will have to stay healthy all year for that to come true… So we’ll see how well that works.

Something that can’t be stated enough in a conversation like this? Daniel’s streak isn’t driven by a wild ride of shooting percentage. His 11.8% is a bit higher than it’s been since the last lockout but lies right around his 11.6% career average. What’s made Daniel so successful this year is how frequently he’s shooting the puck; putting four pucks on net every game is a good way to score goals. 

If Daniel can stay healthy all year and push the 300-350 shot range, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see him score 30, but that would also be a career high in pucks-on-net. I guess it all depends on how much of a focal point the team decides to make him on the powerplay and how selfish he decides to be throughout the year.