The Canucks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, and once again we have the Sedins to thank. It was a team effort, of course, but Vancouver’s best players came up big again, combining forces on the winning goal.
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That’s Henrik Sedin undressing Jason Garrison at the blueline, then taking a hit from Nikita Kucherov to feed his brother Daniel, who lets go a perfectly placed bullet of a shot.
As the Canucks reach the Christmas break, just six games away from the midway point of the season, a lot of people will begin giving their pick for Canucks MVP. A lot of people will try to look outside of the box for this award, and I’ve done it too.
No Kesler = No Canuck Powerplay. Guy is the MVP #HNIC #canucks
— Zac Station (@staysh30) October 7, 2011
Game 82. Who is your #Canucks MVP for 2013.14?
Henrik Sedin?
Ryan Kesler?
Chris Higgins?
Dan Hamhuis? (my pick)@VanCanucks @CTVVancouver— kelcey brade (@KelceyBradeTSN) April 13, 2014
My choices for #Canucks awards:
MVP: Vrbata
Most Exciting Player: Vrbata
D-man: Edler
Unsung: Weber— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) April 12, 2015
Personally I think Hansen might be team's MVP so far, with the way he props up whoever he plays with. #Canucks
— Omar A (@omarcanuck) December 22, 2015
Tanev. MVP. #Canucks
— Jonathan McCauley (@JMcCauleyTweets) December 23, 2015
You know what? We get it wrong almost every year.
I know it’s boring to say the Sedins are the MVPs of the Canucks, but picking any other player on the team is usually a farce.
Last year, Radim Vrbata was the Canucks’ only representative at the All-Star Game, and was named team MVP at the end of the regular season. He had a good year, leading the team with 31 goals, so this isn’t an attack on Vrbata.
But maybe the team MVP should go to, hmm I don’t know, one of the guys who led the team in scoring? Daniel led the team in scoring with 76 points, while Henrik finished with 73 (Vrbata finished with 63 points). Those numbers were good enough to put them in the top-10 in the league in scoring (Daniel finished tied for 8th, Henrik tied for 10th).
This happens nearly every season.
The Sedins have had the two best careers in Canucks history. They are 1-2 in franchise points and have finished 1-2 in scoring for 9 straight seasons.
How many Cyclone Taylor Awards (team MVP) do they have? Collectively, just three. Henrik won the trophy in 2010 and 2012, while Daniel won it in 2011. Basically they have to win an Art Ross Trophy to get noticed.
Here’s the history of the award:
Season |
Winner |
Season |
Winner |
|
| 1970–71 | Orland Kurtenbach | 1992–93 | Pavel Bure | |
| 1971–72 | Orland Kurtenbach | 1993–94 | Pavel Bure | |
| 1972–73 | Orland Kurtenbach | 1994–95 | Trevor Linden | |
| 1973–74 | Gary Smith | 1995–96 | Trevor Linden | |
| 1974–75 | Gary Smith | 1996–97 | Martin Gelinas | |
| 1975–76 | Don Lever | 1997–98 | Pavel Bure | |
| 1976–77 | Cesare Maniago | 1998–99 | Markus Naslund | |
| 1977–78 | Cesare Maniago | 1999–00 | Mark Messier | |
| 1978–79 | Thomas Gradin | 2000–01 | Markus Naslund | |
| 1978–79 | Glen Hanlon | 2001–02 | Markus Naslund | |
| 1979–80 | Stan Smyl | 2002–03 | Markus Naslund | |
| 1980–81 | Richard Brodeur | 2003–04 | Markus Naslund | |
| 1981–82 | Richard Brodeur | 2004–05 | 2004–05 NHL lockout | |
| 1982–83 | Stan Smyl | 2005–06 | Alex Auld | |
| 1983–84 | Patrik Sundstrom | 2006–07 | Roberto Luongo | |
| 1984–85 | Richard Brodeur | 2007–08 | Roberto Luongo | |
| 1985–86 | Stan Smyl | 2008–09 | Ryan Kesler | |
| 1986–87 | Barry Pederson | 2009–10 | Henrik Sedin | |
| 1987–88 | Tony Tanti | 2010–11 | Daniel Sedin | |
| 1988–89 | Trevor Linden | 2011–12 | Henrik Sedin | |
| 1989–90 | Kirk McLean | 2012–13 | Cory Schneider | |
| 1990–91 | Trevor Linden | 2013–14 | Ryan Kesler | |
| 1991–92 | Kirk McLean | 2014–15 | Radim Vrbata |
Markus Naslund won this award 5 times. They didn’t give the award to Todd Bertuzzi, Mattias Ohlund, or Ed Jovanovski to spice things up.
I mean, Daniel Sedin is about to become the team’s all-time leading goal scorer and he has the same number of team MVP awards as Mark Messier and Alex Auld! Hey, maybe one day Henrik Sedin will equal the number of MVP awards as Orland Kurtenbach!
So I get it, you want to look outside of the box. You want to give the MVP to Anson Carter, Jarkko Ruutu, or Kyle Wellwood. But let’s be real.
Pick Henrik or Daniel. That’s your MVP.
And do it every year.
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