Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks Sedin Twins, A Miracle on Ice
Think about it … NHL brothers, father and sons, sure. Over history, we’ve seen plenty of prominent examples, the Conachers, the Sutter NHL family, which included twins, and the Staals among others. But inseparable twins, together not only for an entire career together with the Vancouver Canucks, but now to the Hockey Hall of Fame?
That, in and of itself, makes Daniel and Henrik Sedin’s journey and accomplishments one of the greatest and unusual stories in NHL history.
We can talk about Brian Burke’s handy-work at the 1999 NHL Draft as the Vancouver Canucks GM, landing the Sedin twins at 2nd and 3rd-overall, but we really need to talk about chromosomes.
What are the odds!? Once they’re born I guess it’s not that crazy, when you drill down into the process. Two kids, inseparable, both playing hockey, both skilled, living in Ornskoldsvik (“earnz-scult-veek”) on the east coast of Sweden, 530 kilometres north of Stockholm, spending as much time as possible on blades.
A portion of that story has actually repeated itself, as of the handful of twins to make it to the National Hockey League, three of the sets are Swedish.
Patrik Sundstrom, drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 1980, played five full seasons in BC before moving on to the New Jersey Devils and 679 career NHL games. He never donned the same sweater as his twin bro’ Peter, who played about half as many.
Henrik and Joel Lundqvist crossed paths for just one NHL game against one another in 2006. Henrik, a beloved New York Rangers goalie, had his jersey retired, while Joel played a grand total of 134 games in the big show with the Dallas Stars.
Americans Chris and Peter Ferraro tried to be as inseparable as the Sedins, but neither were anywhere close to being Hall of Famers let alone stars. Remarkably, they managed to play 34 NHL games together with three different teams over six seasons with Peter playing a grand total of 92 NHL games and Chris 74. This, after winning a NCAA national championship together at the University of Maine in 1993.
The Sutter family story remains one of the game’s most incredible, six brothers making it to the NHL including twins Rich and Ron. The lads from Viking, Alberta continue to leave their mark in the NHL in scouting and coaching, including 2022 Jack Adams Award winner Darryl of the Calgary Flames.
Impressive as heck, and they were stalwarts, but neither Rich or Ron are Hall of Fame material. Rich played almost four full seasons for the Vancouver Canucks after playing three seasons with his twin in Philadelphia from 1983 to 1986.
Which brings us back to the Sedins. We’ve covered the numbers, the contributions, and the awards, but it ultimately comes down to a bit of a miracle. How it all worked out.
From a split zygote to together becoming Honoured Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.