Inaugural Post: The Best of the Sedins, 09-10

In case you were sleeping, or, say, at a very long church service, maybe you missed Sunday's big news: Henrik Sedin, with 112 points, is your Art Ross trophy winner. Yup. Finishing in a tie for the first loser are Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, both of whom could only manage a paltry 109 points. Oh, 109? I once saw Cheryl Miller get four less than that in a single game.* Sid, Alex? Not impressed.

Let's just get this out of the way: how odd. The two best hockey players in the world over the last five years and Henrik Sedin beats them both? Isn't this the guy that half of Vancouver would have been happy to see replaced by basically any European NHLer named Marian? And now he's your Art Ross champion. Seems to me we could match the dollar value of his most recent charitable contribution with servings of crow. I know I've got plenty to eat on this one. But enough navel-gazing! Let's celebrate the single greatest season in Vancouver Canucks history with its five greatest plays, as chosen by me. Harrison.


5: March 30, 2010 -- Canucks vs. Coyotes
What makes this one so good? Henrik's pass to Daniel is remarkable, but Daniel's balance and strength to tip that puck with any momentum at all is equally so. It moves at a snail's pace, but, thankfully, Bryzgalov is a little slower to react than Daniel and it trickles in.



4: March 25, 2010 -- Canucks vs. Ducks
What makes this one so good? How quickly it happens. From the time Daniel steals the puck to when Burrows buries it is only about one second. It's remarkable to move the puck that quickly when one of the passes isn't a twirling no-looker.



3: January 9, 2010 -- Canucks vs. Flames
What makes this one so good? Henrik's presence of mind, and his guts. He's on a breakaway, after all. And if you look closely, he actually turns his skate inward and almost kind of hooks the defenders into the turn, taking every Flame in the frame away from the net. Then he leaves it there. I think he might be one of these things. He's got a lot of brains and a lot of... chutzpah.



2: January 25, 2010 -- Canucks vs. Sabres
What makes this one so good? Daniel's pass. Have you ever in your life seen this much shaking and baking just to make a drop pass? Methinks Brad Lukowich is in ecstasy because he knows he's just been immortalized. Say it with Alex and I: it's gonna be on Youtube for sure. Can we get Brad some shots vodka please?



1: April 10, 2010 -- Canucks vs. Flames
Why makes this one so good? Erm, did you see it? Daniel undresses Kipper with the ol' Marek Malik special after a perfect no-look between-the-legs touch pass from Henrik. That's right. Read that sentence again. I'm serious. This one's stupid.


Agree with these picks? Disagree? If I was an arguing man, I'd point out that there appears to be a bias towards the latter portion of the season. Did I forget something? You are invited to disagree with me. Needless contrarianism is the lifeblood of blogging. And, on that note, I'm off--perhaps to construct an article about why Henrik doesn't deserve the Art Ross.



*it was a basketball game. a women's high school basketball game.