They came into the world together. Days removed from being teenagers Jaguars Cheap Jerseys , they made their NHL debuts together.
And after more than 2,800 regular and postseason games with the team that drafted them, they will leave the ice together for the final time late Saturday night.
Two of the league’s greats cap off sure-fire Hall of Fame careers as Daniel and Henrik Sedin lead the Vancouver Canucks against the Edmonton Oilers.
Sandwiched around Patrik Stefan and Pavel Brendl in the 1999 NHL Draft, Daniel was selected second, one spot ahead of Henrik. It took separate trades with the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers to put Vancouver in position to select the Swedes.
“Five minutes before it started, (Canucks scout Thomas Gradin) walked up to us. He was yelling from the floor telling us that it was going to happen,” Henrik told Canada’s Global News in a 2016 article.
The Sedins would quickly become synonymous with Canucks hockey and go on to win scoring titles in consecutive seasons. Henrik collected 112 points en route to an MVP season in 2009-10, followed by Daniel with 104 in 2010-11.
Now 37 years old and with their respective contracts expiring at the end of the season, the twins announced in low-key fashion last Monday that this would be their final season.
“I hope we can treat the final games the same way as any other game, but it’s going to be emotional,” Henrik said at a press conference.
The twins had a storybook ending to their final game in Vancouver on Thursday. Daniel scored his second goal of the game off a helper from Henrik in overtime to lift the Canucks past the Arizona Coyotes, 4-3.
“You couldn’t dream of a better ending in this building Leighton Vander Esch Cowboys Jersey ,” said Daniel, who is second in franchise history with 1,041 points — and trails only Henrik with 1,070.
Both players have bedeviled Edmonton for nearly 20 years. Henrik has 17 goals and 67 assists in 95 games; Daniel has 37 goals and 47 assists in 92 games.
“They’ve been mortal enemies of the Oilers for many, many years, but we’ve also been able to appreciate and watch their skill level and how they affected and changed the game in a lot of different ways. We’ll appreciate them (Saturday) night, and enjoy the evening,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said Friday.
Vancouver (31-40-10) is going for a split of the four-game season series, and its second win in seven games in Alberta.
Instead of playoff hockey and like the Canucks — Edmonton (35-40-6) will look ahead to where they will be slotted in the draft lottery.
With 106 points (41 goals, 65 assists), Connor McDavid is just about a lock to become the first player to win back-to-back scoring titles since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jaromir Jagr took home four straight Art Ross Trophies between 1998 and 2001.
Making a bit of personal history is nice, but the Oilers’ captain would rather be playing past Saturday night.
“We have nights where we’re really good and we have nights where we’re really bad,” McDavid said after notching three assists in a 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. “It’s definitely something we’ve got to figure out. We’ve beat some good teams Justin Reid Color Rush Jersey , and we’ve lost to some teams that ultimately we should not have lost to.”
The reigning Hart Trophy winner has 14 three-point games this season, with Edmonton going 11-2-1. The Oilers are 24-38-5 when McDavid has two or fewer points.
McDavid also has posted at least one point in all six career home games against Vancouver, totaling three goals and six assists. The Oilers are 5-0-1 in those contests.
A particularly trying season is coming to an end for Edmonton’s Cam Talbot, who has 30 wins — 12 fewer than last season. He also managed one shutout after collecting seven in 2016-17.
Since joining the Oilers, Talbot is 4-0-1 with a 1.18 GAA and two shutouts against the Canucks in Edmonton.
Su'a Cravens has found happiness, harmony and himself just in time for his do-over in Denver.
Elated over John Elway's call and Von Miller's text, the former standout safety from Southern Cal celebrated his trade from the Redskins to the Broncos by posting "A Whole New World" from the Disney movie "Aladdin" on his Twitter account.
"I felt like it was perfect," said Cravens, who missed all of last season and even mulled retirement while dealing with the lingering effects of a head injury.
Selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft, Cravens played in 11 games his rookie season but he sustained a concussion in Week 4 and later suffered an elbow injury. He said he felt off-kilter heading into training camp last year, and things only got worse after he underwent knee surgery in August to repair a torn meniscus.
Cravens had to be talked out of retiring in early September during a meeting with team President Bruce Allen, and the Redskins placed him on their exempt list, forcing him to miss the entire season. They sent him to see sports concussion expert Micky Collins in Pittsburgh Broncos Game Jerseys , who had an answer for all of his mood swings, personality changes and feelings that something just wasn't quite right: post-concussion syndrome.
"I didn't really know what was going on until I went to see Dr. Collins and he made me fully aware of the situation," Cravens said. "At first I just thought that something was wrong with me, something's not right and I didn't feel the same. Once he explained, 'This is why you feel this way,' he'd ask me questions, I'd tell him, 'Yes,' and he'd say, 'Well that's a correlation to this.' Everything started making sense and once we started working on it progressively I got better and better."
Cravens said he never lost his love for the game but did succumb to feelings his football career was finished.
"Certainly. I was going through something that I wasn't even aware I was going through," Cravens said. "The mindset that I had last year was just completely different from how I am now. Once I got cleared, I took a step back and looked at the way I was acting and the way I was treating my loved ones. The way my whole thought process was, it was a stranger.
"It was just crazy that I didn't realize that I was in a predicament I was completely unaware of. So yeah Youth Rashaan Gaulden Jersey , there was a point that I thought I was done with football, but that love for it and that need to compete, that need to be on the field and be with your brothers, that never went away."
Cravens even had to deal with accusations that he'd quit on his teammates.
He was finally cleared in December and the Redskins began shopping him during the NFL combine last month.
The Broncos essentially sent a fifth-round selection in this year's draft for the safety-linebacker hybrid whose instincts and athleticism wowed scouts two years ago.
Cravens is eager to put his past behind him and start anew in Denver.
"I think there's a false narrative on what exactly happened," Cravens said. "Right now my focus is just on being a Denver Bronco. One day I'll be able to speak a little further on that, but I'm not a quitter. I'm not a guy who lacks love for the game. I definitely don't know where the 'quitting in college' came from, but like I said, I'm here to play for the Broncos and do whatever I can to help this team win games."
He sees himself as a strong safety but is willing to play wherever the Broncos feel he fits best in a revamped secondary that lost standout safety T.J. Ward last fall and elite cornerback Aqib Talib this spring.
"I'm just grateful to be on the field," Cravens said, adding that last season made him appreciate his chance to play pro football and he has no qualms about getting right back into the fray.
"We're all grown men and I know what I'm signing myself up for. I'm aware of the situation that I was in and I'm aware of the dangers of the game," he said. "I've experienced it firsthand and I'm still willing to go out there and put everything I have on the line. I wanted a fresh start just because I don't like the way things happened. It wasn't a part of my plan. I never thought at 22 years old that I'd be at the house watching football instead of playing football."