There have been a handful of twins play in the NHL, including Rich and Ron Sutter, Chris and Peter Ferraro and Patrik and Peter Sundstrom, but none made the entrance that Daniel and his brother Henrik did. Born September 26, 1980 in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, the twins joined MoDo of the Swedish Elite League in 1997-98. The next season, Daniel and Henrik were co-winners of the Swedish Elite League's Most Valuable Player Award. The pair played a third season for MoDo in 1999-00, and the Vancouver Canucks were so excited by the prospect of owning both Sedins that they traded draft positions to ensure that they could draft Daniel first (second overall) and Henrik second (third overall) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
A three-time member of Sweden World Junior Team, Sedin made his World Championship debut in the spring of 2000 before he made his NHL debut with the Canucks later that fall. In his rookie season Sedin finished second in goals by a rookie with 20 and finished the season with a solid 34 points. A gifted winger who has a nose for the net and excellent hockey sense, Sedin nearly equalled his rookie point totals in 2001-02, finishing the season with 32 while working on improving his defensive game.
Sedin's consistent play continued over the course of the 2002-03 season and in 2003-04 he established a career high in points with 54 (18-36-54). After the NHL lockout ended, Sedin appeared in all 82 regular season games for the second time in his career and continued to establish new offensive highs. He led the Cancuks in scoring with 84 points in 2006-07 and finished with 10 fewer points the following year. However what's more remarkable is that Daniel Sedin only missed a single game through four NHL seasons from 2003-04 to 2007-08.
Aside from his World Junior experience, Sedin represented his homeland at the World Championship in 2005 and in 2006, was a member of the Gold-Medal winning Swedish Olympic team.
In the summer of 2009, Daniel and his brother Henrik became unrestricted free agents for the first time in their careers. Rumors swirled about where the twins would end up, but on July 1, 2009 the Canucks and Sedins were able to come to terms on a contract, locking the brothers up for another five years.
It wouldn't take long for Daniel to justify his new contract. In the first year of the deal (2009-10) he recorded a career-high 85 points, despite missing 19 games due to injury.
In February 2010, Sedin was part of the Swedish team that participated in the Olympic Winter Games in his adopted home of Vancouver. Four years later, he would represent Sweden once again in Russia where he would help his team win a Silver Medal.
In 2010-11, Daniel recorded 41 goals and 63 assists, both career bests. His 104 points were tops in the NHL and made him just the second Vancouver Canuck player to win the Art Ross Trophy, following in the footsteps of twin brother Henrik who accomplished the feat just a year prior.
