Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin joins team for practice, expected to play in Playoffs opening game
While it is still has not been officially confirmed by the Vancouver Canucks, Daniel Sedin is expected to make a debut in their opening playoffs matchup against Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, April 11, 2012, after joining the team for a practice session
on Monday.
The Canucks’ leading scorer went out with concussion issues and missed nine games due to reoccurring symptoms. He was not allowed to even practice so that it would not aggravate the condition to worsen even further but now, his teammates assess that he is
back to normal now and ready to go.
"He's 100 percent now," said twin brother and Vancouver forward, Henrik Sedin.
Along with saying that he is fully recovered, Henrik Sedin added when asked whether he could take contact or not, by comparing himself as taking a hit, suggesting that his symptoms have cleared up.
Going up against a team like Los Angeles Kings would require the Vancouver club to be fully loaded in terms of its top shooters and not having Daniel Sedin could be mean catastrophic. Being the leading scorer with 67 points (30 goals, 37 assists) in 72 games
played, Daniel Sedin proved to be a major reason why Vancouver got back into the Western Conference’s top position and won the Presidents’ Trophy for the second year running.
Vancouver head coach, Alain Vigneault, was also asked whether he thought Sedin would be participating in Wednesday’s game against Los Angeles, but in contradiction to his twin brother and in an attempt to keep the Kings confused about his debut, the coach
played it off in a cool fashion.
"We'll see how he's doing (Tuesday) and we'll take it from there," Vigneault said. "He's had some real good days. Obviously this is a unique injury and we have to take it a day at a time. We feel real positive with how he looked today."
The injury occurred during a matchup with Chicago Blackhawks in which Duncan Keith elbowed Sedin. Keith was awarded a five-game suspension for the hit by the NHL’s chief disciplinarian,
Brendan Shanahan, as a result.
It is most likely that Sedin’s presence in Wednesday first playoff game for Vancouver and Los Angeles will be confirmed by Tuesday night, unless Vigneault has plans to keep Kings from preplanning.
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