Will the Sedins Build a Team Like Them or One That Can Beat Them?
There’s something really interesting going on in Vancouver right now, even if it’s not always talked about out loud. The Canucks are still being shaped, in some way, by two of the most important players in franchise history — Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin. And when you step back and think about it, it raises a pretty simple question: when your identity as a player was built around skill, patience, and almost no physical edge at all… what kind of players do you actually end up valuing when you help shape a roster?
The Sedins were a class act on the ice, but a team of all Sedins probably can’t win.
Because the Sedins were never that “heavy” type of player. They didn’t run guys over. They didn’t fight. They didn’t really live in that physical world of the game at all. They were elite puck movers, elite thinkers, elite cycle players. They were, in many ways, the definition of clean, disciplined hockey. So now, when they’re in leadership or advisory roles in the organization, it’s fair to wonder how much that lens influences what they see as “good hockey.”
And that becomes especially interesting when you look at the other side of the discussion. What kind of players has Vancouver been flirting with? What players will they value? Guys like Curtis Douglas, for example, are the complete opposite stylistically. Big, heavy, physical, simple. Douglas is not there to outthink the game, but to change how it feels when you’re on the ice. The kind of player who makes a shift uncomfortable, even if he never shows up on a scoresheet.
How will the Canucks find the right balance?
Because the truth is, Vancouver has had both types of players in its history. They’ve had the Sedin style — the finesse, the puck control, the quiet domination. But they’ve also had players like Todd Bertuzzi and others over the years who brought a completely different edge. Even guys like Kevin Bieksa, who, in his own way, added that bite, that pushback, that reminder that skill alone doesn’t always win you space in this league.
The real question now is whether that balance is still the goal. Or, will the organization naturally drift toward what its most influential voices understand best? Because it’s one thing to appreciate physical players from a distance. It’s another thing entirely to build around them when your own career was never defined that way.
It will be fun for Canucks fans to watch the team’s roster take shape.
And maybe that’s the tension Vancouver is trying to figure out right now. Not just what kind of players they want… but what kind of identity they believe actually wins when the game gets tight, heavy, and a little bit messy.