I don't really see the problem (based on the prompt alone).
If he wasn't going to play anyway, and came as a scratch, why not give him an assignment? Lidstrom and Schenn were never compared in style I don't recall, but if he could lift some things about positioning or gap control, especially if it was guided a bit by Leafs staff, that's not a bad thing. They don't need to have the same play style. Lidstrom was the best defenseman, and he wasn't a physical monster. He thought the game well.
The problem is from the "do what he does" part. I took that as his game & style as a whole, not specific individual parts. And that's obviously crazy talk, but the reason I think they would say that or expect that was from how they viewed him as a prospect, which was all wrong.
Toronto traded up to #5 to draft Schenn, who was (and still is) a defensive defenseman with no offensive ability. Usually when that happens, it spells disaster. Schenn is who he is, but he was hyped up as something more. In defense of the pick, people said oh well he's still developing, he's still young, there's more to him than just that, and this is a gem because Toronto can see what everyone else can't. So was it faulty scouting, or just unrealistic expectations that got out of control for a top pick in Toronto? I don't know. But they believed they had drafted a different player than they did. And the story of thinking Schenn could change his stay at home game from watching one of the best all around dman, to me is them still fooling themselves.