It takes a special athlete to add a word to the English language.
Merriam-Webster hasn’t officially added “Sedinery” to its pages, but every hockey fan knows exactly what it means: crazy, no-look passes that leave fans and opposing defensemen scratching their heads.
But Henrik and Daniel Sedin contributed much more to the game of hockey than a few hundred highlight-reel goals. They reinvented the offensive structure of the game.
The offensive-zone cycle is now commonplace on every NHL power play, but it didn’t really exist until the Sedins brought it to North America.
At the peak of their powers, the Sedins won back-to-back Art Ross Trophies as the NHL’s top scorers: Henrik in 2010 and Daniel in 2011.
They were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame together as soon as they were eligible, and on Thursday, they were named co-presidents of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks, the team for which they played all 17 seasons of their NHL careers.
With that context, it’s clear why the hockey world is so excited about Markus and Liam Ruck.
The Ruck twins led the Western Hockey League in scoring this year, ending the season just four points apart from each other. Their “twin telepathy” isn’t quite as refined as that of the Sedins — that comes with time — but they are excellent playmakers who always know where to find each other.
“We just know each other’s tendencies. I know the plays he likes to make, and he knows the areas I like to go to,” Liam Ruck told The Athletic. “We know where we’re going to be out there.”
“... I’m always ready for the puck when he’s got it because I know that even if he’s not looking at me there’s a chance it’s coming to me.”
The Rucks are also important defensive players. They faced top matchups all season long with the Medicine Hat Tigers, and they headlined the top penalty kill unit.
Could Markus and Liam Ruck be drafted to the same NHL team?
The Sedins were fortunate to be drafted to the same team, but it took nothing short of a miracle for that to happen.
Both brothers were projected as top picks, and no team had the selections to get them. But in the opinion of Canucks GM Brian Burke, neither twin was as valuable without the other. So, he executed a series of trades that almost require a flow chart to understand.
The Canucks walked out of the Draft Lottery with pick No. 3. A week before the draft, Burke made an agreement with Chicago Blackhawks GM Bob Murray to acquire pick No. 4. It would cost Bryan McCabe, a young, budding defenseman, but it was worth the potential reward, in Burke’s opinion.
But picks three and four weren’t certain enough, Burke thought. Another team could take a Sedin and completely spoil the plan. So, on draft day, he started working the tables early.
He worked out an agreement with Jay Feaster, the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, to swap pick No. 4 and two third-rounders for the first-overall pick. Then, he went over to Don Waddell, who was heading up the expansion Atlanta Thrashers, to trade pick No. 1 for pick No. 2 plus a third-rounder.
When all was said and done, the Canucks had picks No. 2 and No. 3, along with Waddell’s word that he’d select Patrik Štefan with the first pick. And that’s how the Sedins became Canucks.
Most analysts have the Ruck twins going in the mid-to-late first round of this year’s draft.
It’s much easier for a team to acquire an additional pick in that range than it is to get one in the top three like Burke did, so it’s not out of the question that the brothers could be drafted together.
That said, no GM wants to go down in history as the one who traded a Sedin and a pick for Patrik Štefan, so it’s probably fair to assume the price will be high for any team trying to acquire consecutive picks.
What would it take for the Utah Mammoth to land the Ruck twins?
The Utah Mammoth currently have pick No. 19 in the draft, which is at the beginning of the range where most experts have the Rucks being drafted.
If Bill Armstrong and his staff see them becoming NHL stars, it might not be a bad idea to take them off the board.
The adjacent picks, 18 and 20, are owned by the Washington Capitals and the San Jose Sharks, respectively. Both of those teams have multiple picks in the first round, so it’s not out of the question that one of them could make a move.
That said, the Capitals’ other pick is No. 16, meaning they’d have the option to select the twins almost consecutively if they wanted. Similarly, the St. Louis Blues have picks 11 and 15. If they value them that highly, maybe they end up there.