When a question at their retirement press conference this week was prefaced by a reminder that everyone says that Daniel and Henrik Sedin are even better people than they are players, Hank joked: “It might mean that we’re terrible players.”

The Sedins have wicked senses of humour. We just never saw it much in front of cameras and microphones. There is so much to the Sedins, so many things that made them great, that we couldn’t see: their physical toughness, their inner strength and resilience, their burning drive to be the best, their leadership in the dressing room and their goodness everywhere.

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Sedin twins final home game on Sportsnet

Daniel and Henrik Sedin will play their final home game with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, April 5 against the Arizona Coyotes. Watch the game on Sportsnet Pacific, East, Ontario, 360 and Sportsnet Now at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET.

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Nobody foresaw the Hall of Fame careers they would build as linemates during 17 National Hockey League seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. Even the identical twins, who saw everything on the ice, didn’t envision it going this way.

It took a Houdini act by former general manager Brian Burke just to draft both of them in 1999 — making trades with Chicago and Tampa Bay to get two of the top three picks — a lot of nurturing by coaches and teammates to help them through a difficult transition to the NHL, and then unfathomable strength and character from the Sedins to become two of the best players in the world even as they were criticized like few stars in NHL history.