Sedins set to be "more involved" with Canucks power play
There are few people who represent the Vancouver Canucks better than the Sedin twins.
They’re some of the best players to ever wear the sweater and have stuck with the organization during their post-playing days.
Next season their roles will increase as they continue to grow and flourish in their player development positions. This means more responsibility including a much greater say in the team’s power play approach.
“The Sedins, they’ve been so good for us what they’ve done, cause they quietly just help a lot of players, but you’re going to see that they will be more involved than they have in the past,” stated team president Jim Rutherford on a recent episode of The Bob McCown Podcast.
“They’ll be more involved in helping with that power play.”
The Canucks struggled on the power play last season, especially in the second half of the year as well as in the playoffs. They converted just 13.9% of chances in the postseason.
The increased role means that they’ll be adding more coaching responsibilities, like running the power play, onto their development role.
“Yes,” responded Rutherford when asked if the twins are now effectively part of Rick Tocchet’s coaching staff.
“Their titles aren’t assistant coaches; they’re still on the development side because they like to go work in Abbotsford with the guys there, and they’ve been really good at that. But yeah, they effectively will be part of Rick’s staff.”
While they may be working mostly behind the scenes, the twins have already made a huge impact, according to Rutherford.
He cites the development of Nils Höglander as a player for whom the Sedins have helped out massively. The Swedish forward enjoyed a breakout season last year, scoring 24 goals and greatly improving his play away from the puck.
“Höglander last year, he had a lot to learn coming in,” said Rutherford. “He was scoring some goals, scoring some nice goals, but he had some things to learn on the defensive side of the puck. They took him as a project an within a matter of two months, some of those bad habits he had early in the season, he got rid of.”
“They have a special way of working with players. They have a lot of respect from players.”
“They care about the city, they care about the Canucks, and they put the Canucks ahead of themselves.”
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