The Sedin twins keep stacking their inner circle inside the Vancouver Canucks organization.
Alex Edler is heading back to where it all started. HockeyNews.se broke the news on Friday that the former Canucks defender will join the Vancouver staff in time for the team's summer development camp.
Daniel and Henrik Sedin took over the front office two weeks ago. The cleanup happened fast. Adam Foote and his entire coaching staff were let go almost immediately.
GM Ryan Johnson kept some pieces. Assistant GMs Cammi Granato and Emilie Castonguay are sticking around. Director of scouting Todd Harvey stays in place. Continuity where it works. Fresh blood where it doesn't.
Edler is the first new face added under the Sedin regime. A 40-year-old defender who spent 15 of his 17 NHL seasons in Vancouver. The franchise leader in games played by a defender at 925 and goals by a defender at 99.
That's not a courtesy hire. That's a culture decision.
How the 2011 Canucks core is quietly rebuilding the organization
The Sedins. Manny Malhotra. Mikael Samuelsson. Now Edler. Five members of the 2011 squad that reached the Stanley Cup Final are now formally inside the Vancouver organization in various roles.
Malhotra is taking over as head coach of the AHL Abbotsford Canucks. Samuelsson has been working as a development coach and was a key figure at last summer's camp. Edler joins the same staff layer.
That's a clear pattern. The Sedins are reaching back into the locker room they remember best and building outward from there.
The Canucks finished dead last in the league at 25-49-8 with 58 points. The roster needs an overhaul. The culture needs a complete reset. The development pipeline needs voices that prospects will actually listen to.
Edler currently lives in Los Angeles. He spent his final two NHL seasons with the Kings, last suiting up in 2022-23. He was recently spotted at Anze Kopitar's final regular-season game.
The Swedish veteran signed a one-day contract with the Canucks in 2024. That gesture was symbolic at the time. The new role gives it real teeth.
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Honestly, this is one of the smarter quiet moves a rebuilding team can make. You can't pay a current NHL veteran to teach. You can hire former teammates who already lived the standard and have it baked into their language.
The NHL head-coach chair is still open in Vancouver. Manny Malhotra running Abbotsford rather than the big club means the search continues at the top.
Development camp typically lands in early July. Edler will be there. The Sedins are clearly counting on him to set tone for the next wave of young Canucks before they ever step on NHL ice.
Are the Sedins making the right call by hiring so many former teammates in Vancouver?
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