Considering CanucksArmy has been around since April of 2009, I figured there would have been at least one article on the aftermath of the Sedin trade. But couldn’t find anything. I searched “Sedin” in our back end and looked through 231 articles that took me all the way back to 2009, but this story was nowhere to be found.

Of course, we’ve told the story of how then-Vancouver Canucks General Manager Brian Burke worked the phones, pulling off a trio of trades that eventually landed them with the second- and third-overall picks to draft Daniel and Henrik Sedin. However, we haven’t dug deep into which players those draft picks landed and what type of career each of those draft picks became.

But before we dive into that, I’ll give you all a quick reminder on what happened in late June of 1999.

After a disappointing 1998-99 season that saw the Canucks finish with a 23-47-12 record, they finished dead last in the Western Conference and second-to-last in the NHL standings. However, because the Atlanta Thrashers were entering the league as an expansion franchise for the 1999-2000 season, the Canucks fell to the third overall pick in the 1999 NHL Draft.

The ’99 draft was not viewed as a strong class. However, after Burke travelled to Sweden and witnessed the twins’ unique telepathy, the Canucks GM knew he had to get his hands on the brothers. But he had to work some magic to get that done.

First off, Burke traded defenceman Bryan McCabe and the Canucks’ first in 2000 (Pavel Vorobiev) to the Chicago Blackhawks for the fourth overall pick. Now the Canucks had the third- and fourth-overall pick. But that wasn’t good enough to ensure the twins would come to Vancouver.

Burke then approached the Lightning, who held the first overall pick, and sent the fourth overall pick (Pavel Brendl) and two third-round picks (Brett Scheffelmaier and Jimmie Olvestad). Now the Canucks are in business with the first and third overall picks.

However, the consensus first overall pick in the class was Patrik Stefan. So to recoup some lost draft picks, Burke traded the first overall pick to the expansion Thrashers for the second overall pick and a 2000 third-round pick (Max Birbraer).

With Stefan going first overall, the Canucks were now in prime position to land the twins, and they did just that.

We all know the incredible career the Sedins went on to have. Both became the only two players in Canucks history to register 1,000 points, have plenty of individual hardware in their trophy cases, and both can be found side-by-side in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But what happened to those players that were dealt in the mass of moves Burke pulled off to bring the Sedins to Vancouver? We’ll start with the only player traded in the moves, Bryan McCabe.

McCabe played just one season with the Blackhawks, scoring six goals and 19 assists for 25 points in 79 games before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Alexander Karpovtsev and a 2001 fourth-round pick (Vladimir Gusev). McCabe spent eight seasons in Toronto, where he scored 83 goals and 214 assists for 297 points in 523 games. Those totals have him seventh all-time among Maple Leafs defencemen in scoring.

Now toward the end of his prime, McCabe was then traded to the Florida Panthers, along with a 2010 fourth-round pick (Sam Brittain), for Mike van Ryn. Two and a half seasons later, McCabe found himself on the move again to the New York Rangers, for Tim Kennedy and a 2011 third-round pick (Logan Shaw).

That 2000 first, Pavel Vorobiev, did not make his NHL debut until the 2003-04 season for the Blackhawks. He wound up playing just 57 NHL games, scoring 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points, before heading back to Russia to play 12 years across various leagues.

The fourth overall pick, who eventually became Pavel Brendl, was moved by the Lightning on draft day. Tampa Bay sent this selection to the New York Rangers in exchange for Dan Cloutier, Niklas Sundstrom, and a 2000 first- and third-round pick.

Before ever playing a game for the Rangers, Brendl was moved to the Philadelphia Flyers along with Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson, and a 2003 third-round pick (Stefan Ruzicka) in exchange for the rights to Eric Lindros – which were not exercised. Brendl played just 50 games with the Flyers, scoring six goals and seven assists for 13 points before getting moved to the Carolina Hurricanes. He was traded with Bruno St. Jacques in exchange for Ryan Bast and Sami Kapanen.

Brendl’s tenure with the Hurricanes was even shorter than his tenure with the Flyers, playing just 26 games with five goals and four assists for nine points. He was traded again to the Phoenix Coyotes for Krystofer Kolanos. Brendl played two games with the Coyotes before heading overseas, where he played 10 seasons in Europe.

After the Lightning drafted him, Brett Scheffelmaier went on to re-declare for the draft in 2001. However, after four seasons in the American League, Scheffelmaier retired from hockey. Jimmie Olvestad played two seasons with the Lightning, logging three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 111 games. He then played two more seasons in the American League, heading back home to Sweden, where he played nine more seasons in the SHL.

Once viewed as the prized possession in the 1999 Draft, Patrik Stefan became one of the biggest first-overall pick busts in NHL history.

Stefan made his NHL debut just after being drafted, scoring just five goals and 20 assists for 25 points in 72 games. He played six seasons with the Thrashers, scoring a career high of 14 goals and 40 points in the 2003-04 season. The Thrashers traded Stefan, along with Jaroslav Modry, to the Dallas Stars in 2006, in exchange for Niko Kapanen and a seventh-round pick (Will O’Neill).

In Dallas, Stefan played just 41 games, scoring five goals and six assists for 11 points. However, he will be forever remembered for this missed empty-net attempt that wound up in the back of his net.

The Canucks wound up trading that third-round pick acquired in the Stefan deal, which turned out to be Max Birbraer. Birbraer would never play an NHL game. 

To summarize, the Sedins played a combined 2,636 NHL games and 2,111 points. While the six picks and players that were dealt to acquire the Sedins only amounted to 1,521 NHL games and 684 points: McCabe 820 games and 432 points, Vorobiev 57 games and 25 points, Prendl 78 games and 22 points, Scheffelmaier zero games and zero points, Olvestad 111 games and 17 points, and Stefan 455 games and 188 points.

We all knew that Burke hit a home run when drafting the Sedins, but seeing the lack of production outside of McCabe from the other draft picks in the flurry of moves makes it that much sweeter for Canucks fans.