briere48 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 flyers fan coming in peace, i heard toronto fans werent too happy with luke schenn, flyer fans arent liking him either, what were your thoughts on luke schenn? glad you guys have jvr from our idiotic gm of homer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Clueless Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 In Luke Schenn's 1st and 3rd seasons (sophomore season was a bit rough), Toronto was very happy with him. He looked good - one of the few bright spots on the team. Problem was, he was performing well for a young guy, but then never seemed to progress much past that. Schenn was touted around the draft as the most NHL ready prospect available, and he was certainly ready. I disagree with people who assume the Leafs "rushed" him, because he came in and performed extremely well for a rookie. He was physically and mentally mature. Where the Leafs screwed up was they asked Schenn to focus on bulking up an already bulky body, and it slowed him down in terms of footspeed. They should have focused more on skating. Maybe Schenn is incapable of being a fast skater, but a faster, lighter Schenn would be a very good top 4 shutdown guy in my mind. Now that the background is taken care of, you are correct that Leafs (and fans) were a bit frustrated with Schenn's lack of progress as a player. As I said, he never really progressed much beyond the level he was at as a rookie. As a Leafs fan, it's hard to be mad with that trade at this point. JVR has been great for us, although I do think he is overrated by our fans. Some seem to consider him of the "untouchable" young player variety, but I for one would definitely consider trading him for a similarly skilled and aged centre. While JVR has been awesome, I have to wonder if a good chunk of his productivity doesn't come from being teamed up with Phil Kessel. As a point of interest, Carlyle has finally moved JVR off of Kessel's line in an attempt to shake things up. Last game, the Leafs went with: Lupul-Kadri-KesselJVR-Bozak-Clarkson We'll see how he performs without Kessel, although his first game he did get a goal. It was also against Buffalo, and to say Buffalo is struggling this year would be the understatement of the century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 @Commander Clueless I thought he played his best hockey has a rookie, and regressed from there. Didn't see much in his 3rd year that showed promise, but I don't see every single game. My take, he had deer in headlights syndrome from the 2nd season on, and he's never lost that....except for the brief pairing with MacDonald last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Clueless Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 His 3rd season saw him regain the promise he showed in his rookie season - or at least almost. He was quite good. However, it was apparently downhill from there, as I said he got slower IMO and never really improved his game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 @Commander Clueless Like you said CC, he will never be fleet of foot. He is slow and nothing will change that. You might have been unto something though, perhaps he sheds 10 pounds or so and it helps his foot speed, could not hurt to try. It's not like he's got a pot belly or anything, he's well proportioned, but shedding a few pounds should not be that hard. What is there to lose? I think it's mostly mental with Luke. He panics under pressure, it seems like it's part of his DNA. Having patience with the puck and not treating it like a hot potato is a sign of talent, a particualr skill that Luke will never have. I do believe he can be semi-respectable if the mental aspect of his game were to clean up, I just don't think he can pull that off. The one thing that irks me the most about L.Schenn is how he strays in his own zone chasing pucks etc....his positioning this year is STINKY. Worse than normal, and he was pretty brutal to begin with. I don't think he will ever think the game properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Clueless Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 It is weird, because he seems worse now at positioning than he ever was. I have no idea what happened in those last couple years in Toronto and his time thus far in Philly, but he hasn't been improving. Quite the opposite, I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 @Commander Clueless Looking back in retrospect, the scouts were obviously wrong on Luke's upside. Although....I often ponder what would have happened to Luke's career had he not ever met Ron Wilson. I believe 100% that Ron ruined Luke. He never should have been a top 5 pick to begin with, but he could have been a lot more useful than his present day status were it not for Wilson. He was way to negative with him, on top of publically throwing him under the bus and shaming him about 4 times in the 2nd year. No wonder his growth stunted. What kind of a coach rips into a 19 year old d-man? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 @jammer2 Schenn shouldn't take it personal....Wilson threw ALL his players under the bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 @jammer2 Schenn shouldn't take it personal....Wilson threw ALL his players under the bus. Worst coach ever. I don't see how any owner in his right mind would hire Wilson again. This giant douche took all the credit when things went right, and like you said, when things went south....under the bus you go!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Clueless Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Wilson was really bad for ripping his guys. People criticize Carlyle for it sometimes, but Wilson was ten times worse. That said, I don't think Wilson was nearly as bad a coach as people make him out to be. He has some ability (for example, he did a lot of good with Team USA), but the myth of him being good for young players I think can safely be put to bed. As far as Schenn goes, I too wonder what it would have been like had the Leafs not traded up, and the Isles or Jackets had taken him. I think that a lot of his playing ability came from being physically and mentally mature for his age, and then he didn't progress much past it. Unfortunate, really, because I really thought he had the makings of an excellent shut down guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanflyer Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 My take, he had deer in headlights syndrome from the 2nd season on, and he's never lost that... We talk about how to develope a player and I think we (the Flyers) got damaged goods. Luke was playing 22 minutes a night for a bad Toronto club. In retrospect, a position he perhaps should have never been put in. JVR was a bit of damaged goods as well, but not to the extent of Luke. I just think JVR was not given enough time to mature. I also am of a bit of an opinion that I think splitting the brothers up would be a good thing. It might work in some situations, but it not really working here. I would rather have a 3-4 promising luke on d than a bottom six branden on forward (despite our staple of defensemen coming up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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