Sedins’ legacy extends to young Canucks twins helped develop

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Two years ago, when Bo Horvat was getting crushed by a 27-game goalless drought early in his second season with the Vancouver Canucks, he was gliding alone and joyless around the ice in Philadelphia before a morning skate when Henrik Sedin skated alongside.

Over the course of a couple of laps, Sedin convinced Horvat that the second-year centre had not, in fact, forgotten how to play hockey, that all players, including Hank and his brother Daniel, struggle and that Horvat just needed to stay positive and everything would be OK.

Apparently it was, because Horvat, after surpassing the Sedins as the Canucks’ best player last season, just signed a six-year, $33 million contract and will likely succeed Henrik as captain when the twins retire.

“Over these last three years,” Horvat said Tuesday, “just watching them every day and how they conduct themselves… on the ice and off the ice, they’re pros. For me to be a young guy coming in and just watching them every single day, and taking it all in like that has definitely grown my game.”

Horvat will be part of the Sedins’ legacy.

So will be winger Sven Baertschi.

“You don’t have to do a whole lot; just watch them and learn,” Baertschi said as the Canucks prepared to open training camp ahead of historic pre-season games next week in China against the Los Angeles Kings. “We’re lucky to have them in our locker-room. It’s a great time for us to step up as younger players and follow their lead and learn from them. They’re two phenomenal people, not just hockey players but as guys. The way they care about our team is pretty amazing.”

And this is why, despite the diminishing number of goals they generate, the Sedins are still invaluable to the Canucks.

Former Canucks Coach Alain Vigneault elevated the Sedins to first-liners in 2006 and since then not one player has walked through the dressing room doors at Rogers Arena and not felt their presence, noticed the standard they set.

“That presence in the dressing room is there not because of their accomplishments, but because of the way they approach the game every day,” Canucks director of player development Ryan Johnson, who arrived in Vancouver as a player in 2008, explained when asked about the twins’ impact. “The way they approach the game is what you hope young players learn and understand.”

Johnson played on five NHL teams and said the player nearest the Sedins in leadership was Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews — not for what he said or accomplished on the ice, but for how he prepared and competed every day, practice or game.

“If the best players on your team approach a Monday practice — and you don’t play until Friday — the way Danny and Hank do, everybody else on the team can surely do that,” Johnson said. “It forces guys to get on board with them when they conduct themselves that way on a daily basis. Knowing them, it’s not a surprise to me that they are concerned about what will happen to this team after they are gone. These [final] years for them are just as important to them as any other years in their career because they see the young group we have, know the influence they can have on them, and affect the culture on this team for a very long time.”

The Sedins said Tuesday that they’ll conduct self-assessments at the end of this season, when their identical four-year, $28-million contracts expire, and decide if they’d like to play another year.

“We’re only 36,” Henrik said. “We’re not 42. This is not a farewell tour.”