"This is a franchise player" (Luke Schenn)

Stephen

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Feb 28, 2002
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It's comments like this you question Pierre McGuire's sanity. All the write ups on Luke Schenn prior to the draft seemed to suggest Luke Richardson, with *maybe* an Adam Foote upside, but somehow that translated to a generational defensive defenseman, as if that type of player actually exists because he hung out with Shea Weber.
 

Raging Bull

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Jan 25, 2004
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Schenn has managed to play the third most games in that draft, 700 +. Pretty funny to look back on how he was a "bright spot" for us his rookie season. Had a sophomore Anton Stralman in the lineup too but thankfully Burke was there to f*** that one up.
 

Jimmy Firecracker

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Pierre McGuire is awful. I was re-watching Eberle’s last second tying goal against Russia in the WJC from a few years ago and I forgot how Pierre basically ruined the call. Miller is all hyped up, calls the goal, then says “Can you believe it!?” Obviously it’s rhetorical and serves as a transition to hearing the crowd going nuts, but good old McGuire has to get his two cents in immediately. God forbid he have some patience.



The call with Pierre muted is 10x better.
 
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deletethis

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Schenn has managed to play the third most games in that draft, 700 +. Pretty funny to look back on how he was a "bright spot" for us his rookie season. Had a sophomore Anton Stralman in the lineup too but thankfully Burke was there to **** that one up.

Burke made lots of questionable moves but it was Anton Stralman who messed up his future in Toronto. And Calgary and Columbus. It took getting dumped by Calgary after one training camp and being released by Columbus before Stralman got his act personal act together with the Rangers.

Schenn was just physically and emotionally precocious. He was man strong at 18 and a mature kid likable kid. I get to this day how a scout could be high on the individual but they should have read his limitations better. You can like a prospect without believing he's top of the draft good. His puck skills remain to this day super limited and his feet were no better than average and I believe actually declined from his rookie season on (chronic knee issues?).
 
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Fogelhund

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Sep 15, 2007
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Burke made lots of questionable moves but it was Anton Stralman who messed up his future in Toronto. And Calgary and Columbus. It took getting dumped by Calgary after one training camp and being released by Columbus before Stralman got his act personal act together with the Rangers.

Schenn was just physically and emotionally precocious. He was man strong at 18 and a mature kid likable kid. I get to this day how a scout could be high on the individual but they should have read his limitations better. You can like a prospect without believing he's top of the draft good. His puck skills remain to this day super limited and his feet were no better than average and I believe actually declined from his rookie season on (chronic knee issues?).

He also put on a lot of muscle weight, and that slowed him even further. Later in his career, he dropped some of the weight, and that helped some. He had a first two years, then bulked up. Drafted at 210 lbs, he was 235 coming into his third season.

Luke Schenn also had a coming out party after the arrival of Phaneuf and was the Leafs best defenseman, according to Burke.
In addition, Schenn has bulked up to 235 lbs. in the off-season to add more power to his already dominant presence on the ice. Look for Schenn to improve upon his sophomore season that saw him post career highs in goals, points and plus/minus.

S
hould have worked on skating, instead of bulking up... just the wrong read on the direction of the league.

Articles that didn't age well.... LOL Toronto Maple Leafs: Luke Schenn Isn't Going Anywhere, All Is Well
 
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The Hanging Jowl

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Apr 2, 2017
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Pierre McGuire is awful. I was re-watching Eberle’s last second tying goal against Russia in the WJC from a few years ago and I forgot how Pierre basically ruined the call. Miller is all hyped up, calls the goal, then says “Can you believe it!?” Obviously it’s rhetorical and serves as a transition to hearing the crowd going nuts, but good old McGuire has to get his two cents in immediately. God forbid he have some patience.



The call with Pierre muted is 10x better.


Literally every time I hear Eberle's name I remember that clutch goal.
 

Antropovsky

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Jun 2, 2007
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He also put on a lot of muscle weight, and that slowed him even further. Later in his career, he dropped some of the weight, and that helped some. He had a first two years, then bulked up. Drafted at 210 lbs, he was 235 coming into his third season.

Luke Schenn also had a coming out party after the arrival of Phaneuf and was the Leafs best defenseman, according to Burke.
In addition, Schenn has bulked up to 235 lbs. in the off-season to add more power to his already dominant presence on the ice. Look for Schenn to improve upon his sophomore season that saw him post career highs in goals, points and plus/minus.

S
hould have worked on skating, instead of bulking up... just the wrong read on the direction of the league.

Articles that didn't age well.... LOL Toronto Maple Leafs: Luke Schenn Isn't Going Anywhere, All Is Well

“Muscle weight” ? Guess it depends on your opinion of muscle weight. I ran into him in Kelowna a couple years into his flyers stint... he did not look like a guy whose seen the inside of a gym very much.

He got fat that offseason.... that’s what he did. There really is no such thing as too much muscle weight in one offseason. Look at rod brindamour, amazing player and built like a professional body builder. Schenn didn’t come back from that one offseason as a 20 old packing more muscle then someone like rod brindamour who played great as a muscular guy.
 
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Obliviate

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Jun 26, 2018
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Leaf's management have to accept some responsibility for rushing him onto a team with no support structure to insulate him. We likely contributed to his lack lustre career output.
 

Cor

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Leaf's management have to accept some responsibility for rushing him onto a team with no support structure to insulate him. We likely contributed to his lack lustre career output.

I don't think so. Schenn was pretty sheltered, and had a good start to his career.

I think a previous poster nailed it. They focused on Schenn bulking up and adding more weight and muscle, when they should have focused on him becoming a bit more lean and working on his skating

It was a lack of understanding of where the game was going, and what was best for his development by that management team.
 
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VanW27

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Jun 9, 2003
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I agree with most here, he was a big, physically mature kid with limited skating and puck skills.

On top of that he continued to get bigger and slower as the league got faster.

One side note. I was looking over the 2008 draft and man what draft for dmen. Many of the best dmen in hockey right now went in this draft. The first 2 rounds were stacked but even late in the draft there were guys like Spurgeon, Demers, Scandella.
 

moon111

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Oct 18, 2014
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The strategy of having a finesse defenseman with a physical stay-at-home partner is dying. It's still something teams fall back on with limited talent to go around.
Luke Schenn would of been a much more coveted blueliner in the past. The fact is, the Leafs saw a lot of Bruins go to the net and do there thing there and I'd say
only Polak was effective at stopping this. It's a simple thing that keeps guys like Schenn in business.
 

Voodoo Child

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Jun 16, 2009
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Schenn looked great in his first year.

Then management asked an already slow player to put on 25 lbs in the off-season.
 

Suntouchable13

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Dec 20, 2003
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The strategy of having a finesse defenseman with a physical stay-at-home partner is dying. It's still something teams fall back on with limited talent to go around.
Luke Schenn would of been a much more coveted blueliner in the past. The fact is, the Leafs saw a lot of Bruins go to the net and do there thing there and I'd say
only Polak was effective at stopping this. It's a simple thing that keeps guys like Schenn in business.

Polak wasn't effective at anything.
 
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