Henrik Sedin has already seen his ironman streak come to an end, and his dreams of competing in the Sochi Olympics for Sweden dashed because of a rib injury.
But he’s hoping to return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues. The Canucks will come out of the Olympic break on a sour seven-game losing streak.
Henrik, the Canucks’ captain, missed eight of the last 10 games due to his injury, and, because he did not make the trek to Russia to join his twin brother, Daniel, could benefit greatly from the recent time off.
“Right now it feels like it’s a possibility, for sure,” Henrik said Friday of possibly returning to game action Wednesday. “We’ll take it day by day. Like I said, I felt good today with my shooting, skating and some contact, so it was very positive.
“It was a tough decision, like I said, but it would have felt awful toward my teammates and myself and Team Sweden to go over there and not be at 100 percent.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler, both playing for Sweden, will compete in the gold medal game against Canada on Sunday - the final day of competition in Sochi.
Canucks head coach John Tortorella has gone on record as saying he would like to Sweden win. Part of that motivation comes from wanting Daniel Sedin and Edler to have big games before coming back to Vancouver with - the coach hopes - more confidence.