Duncan Keith expresses admiration for Sedin twins

The Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks are generally considered rivals. Though they play in different divisions, the two teams faced each other in three straight hard fought playoff series' from 2009 to 2011. Moreover games between the two clubs have featured a number of notable line brawls and injurious hits in recent history.

The most notable of those injurious hits was the flying elbow Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith hurled at Canucks winger Daniel Sedin in the spring of 2012. Keith's cheap shot resulted in a five game suspension for the Blackhawks defenseman, while Sedin was concussed and missed the balance of the regular season and most of the postseason. 

It has now been two and a half years since the most recent playoff series between these two teams, and the enmity appears to have fizzled for now. On Friday, Keith even took some time out from visiting a Chicago area hospital to praise Vancouver's star twins.

"I have, honestly, nothing at all on Daniel, or Henrik for that matter," Keith told the Vancouver Province. "In fact, I admire those two guys as players. I know just from being in British Columbia how much heat they took early on in their careers, and they could have asked for a trade and gone different places like a lot of young guys do. And they stuck it out and they’ve made quite a career for themselves in Vancouver. How can you not admire them? It’s nothing personal against Daniel."

That's not exactly bulletin board material, of the sort that Canucks head coach John Tortorella might use to motivate his charges ahead of their game against the defending Stanley Cup champions on Friday night...