VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Daniel and Henrik Sedin are returning to the Vancouver Canucks to work in the front office.
Three years after their retirement, the Swedish twins joined the Canucks’ hockey operations department with the title of special adviser to the general manager, Jim Benning.
“We’re coming in as rookies, old rookies,” Daniel Sedin told a video conference Wednesday. “We want to come in and learn all aspects of this side of the business.”
Henrik Sedin, who served as Canucks captain from 2010 to 2018, said it was important for the brothers to have a meaningful role with the club.
“We don’t take this lightly,” he said. “We didn’t want to just come in because of our names.”
The Canucks missed the playoffs for the fifth time in six years in 2021. They finished with a 23-29-4 record for 50 points, leaving them last among the seven teams playing in Canada.
Henrik Sedin believes the Canucks have a talented young core with forwards Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, Nils Hoglander and Brock Boeser, defenseman Quinn Hughes, and goaltender Thatcher Demko.
“To creating a winning organization, you create the right culture,” Henrik Sedin said. “That’s something we truly believed when we played and what we had on good teams.”
Benning said the Sedins will be involved in all areas of hockey operations, including player evaluation, development and communication from the amateur to NHL level.
The brothers will participate in amateur and pro scouting meetings, and help the team’s planning for the draft, free agency and the deadline.
“They played on good teams,” Benning said. “They understood what good teams look like. They are passionate about wanting to do this. They are going to have a big voice in what we do here going forward.”
The Sedins were part of the Canucks team that lost Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins. Vancouver didn’t win another playoff round until the 2020 playoffs.
Henrik Sedin leads the Canucks franchise in games played (1,330), assists (830) and points (1,070). He was the Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP in 2010.
Daniel Sedin is the franchise leader in goals (393), power-play goals (138), game-winning goals (86) and shots on goal (3,474).
The pair had their jerseys retired on Feb. 12, 2020.