Western Notes: Sedin, Predators, Gudbranson, Perron

Daniel Sedin has a chance to take the spotlight again for the Vancouver Canucks. At age 37, neither Sedin nor his brother, Henrik Sedin, are the focal points of the team anymore. However, after Daniel Sedin picked up a goal and an assist in Friday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, he now just needs two points to join his brother as the 87th NHL player to reach 1,000 points.

His next opportunity will be Sunday against the New York Rangers, according to Ben Kuzma of The Province. Henrik Sedin already accomplished the feat last season and currently boasts 1,032 points.

“It’s exciting,” said Henrik Sedin. “When it happened to me, I didn’t realize how big a thing it was for myself until it happened. I’m sure it’s going to be the same thing for him. He never talks about it or thinks about it and maybe not until today (Friday). But two points away. When it happens, it’s going to be fun for him.”

• Adam Vingan of the Tennessean hands out first quarter grades for the Nashville Predators, handing out excellent grades to Filip Forsberg and the Predators’ top three defenders in Roman Josi, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm. He gave Forsberg the MVP award, who has 24 points in 22 games so far this year. He credited the defense for being the backbone of the team and believes that once Ryan Ellis returns from offseason knee surgery in the next few weeks, the team’s defense will be hard to beat. Amongst other notable grades, the scribe hands an incomplete to Nick Bonino who has been hurt for much of the season and hasn’t shown much so far and also hands a below average grade to youngster Pontus Aberg, who many thought could have a breakout year. Instead, he has been a repeated healthy scratch and hasn’t scored a goal yet in 12 games.
• Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News writes that while Vancouver Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson has been mentioned in trade rumors often, it might be just as equally possible the Canucks bring him back next year. Gudbranson, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, could be a quality rental candidate with teams such as Toronto and Florida as possible trade targets. However, Richardson writes that Gudbranson loves playing in the team’s up-tempo style of play, is well liked by Vancouver brass and has shown an interest in re-signing with the Canucks. The real question is whether Vancouver would want to pay his rumored $5-6MM price tag.
• Vegas Golden Knights winger David Perron, who is not playing in tonight’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, did not accompany the team on the road trip down to Phoenix, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp. He is receiving treatment on his upper-body injury and remains day-to-day.