Vegas Golden Knights should go after Luke Schenn this summer
Making a case for Luke Schenn
Luke Schenn is part of NHL sibling royalty with his brother, Brayden Schenn, currently preparing for the Stanley Cup Final with the St. Louis Blues.
While it has been a year to remember for the youngest of the Schenn brothers, with the cherry on top of the cake perhaps still to come, 2018-19 was full of peaks and valleys for Luke who perhaps endured one of his toughest seasons yet as a professional hockey player.
After long stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers, Schenn has clocked up a lot of air miles in recent years following short stops with the LA Kings, the Arizona Coyotes and then the Anaheim Ducks who signed the 29-year-old as a free agent in the summer of 2018.
But Schenn, who was drafted fifth overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2008 NHL Draft, never got it going with the Ducks who struggled this year having posted a plus/minus rating of -6 and no points in just eight games.
That led to being sent down to the minors with the San Diego Gulls in the AHL, before he was given a shot at redemption in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks in February after being part of a trade that sent defenseman Michael Del Zotto in the opposite direction to the Ducks.
A change of scenery proved to be just what the doctor ordered for Schenn who, after a brief period of time in the AHL with the Utica Comets, established himself as a solid role player for the rebuilding Canucks.
He brought grit, tenacity, toughness and a dollop of snarl to the table for Vancouver, taking on the responsibility of being the team’s tough guy and stepping up to protect the roster’s glut of young talent when it was needed.
Schenn wasn’t anything fancy for the Canucks but he was a solid and reliable stay-at-home defenseman, a role which is undervalued in today’s modern NHL where speed and skill seems to win the day.
He only had two points (two assists) in 18 games but the stats that jump out from Schenn’s time with the Canucks are his 81 hits and his 31 blocked shots. He also logged an average of 14:46 minutes of ice time per night which is impressive for a traditional bottom-pairing blueliner.
Another intriguing factor to consider here is the fact that Schenn was trusted with mentoring and helping to develop Vancouver’s young phenom, Quinn Hughes, who is regarded as one of the hottest young prospects in all of hockey.
Schenn took the young stud under his wing for the rookie’s first five games in the majors, acting as a calming influence both on the ice and on the bench in-between shifts.
That should interest the Golden Knights who have a raft of high-end blueliners on the cusp of breaking into the NHL, including Nic Hague, Zach Whitecloud and Jimmy Schuldt.
It would be an ideal situation for Vegas to be able to pair one of their prospects with an experienced pro like Schenn, who would be able to accelerate their development on and off the ice and act as a mentor in and around the locker room.
Not only would Schenn bring leadership qualities to Sin City, but he brings plenty of experience and a boatload of toughness, which is essential for any NHL roster.
He won’t produce much offensive output but that doesn’t matter as much when you have the likes of Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt in the lineup. What will be expected of Schenn is consistency and an ability to help shut down the opposition’s top lines, which he was able to do while with the Canucks.
Next. VGK need their own Jordan Binnington. dark
Another positive to a potential Luke Schenn signing is his asking price. The blueliner’s cap hit in 2018-19 was $800,000 and he’ll probably get something in that region in free agency, which would be doable for the Golden Knights once they move a couple of other pieces out of the building.
That would be a cheaper upgrade on Deryk Engelland who had a cap hit of $1,500,000 this year. Throw into the mix that Schenn at 29-years-old is almost ten years younger than Engelland, then you would be getting a similar type player but one who has a few years of good hockey left in him and comes at a cheaper cost.
Schenn isn’t a flashy or sexy option but he can play the role of a critical shutdown defenseman and that is crucial for any contender with aspirations of one day lifting the Stanley Cup.
With their window for a championship wide open and holes on the blueline that need plugging, the Vegas Golden Knights would be wise to at least explore a potential move for Luke Schenn.