Friday, September 12, 2008

Schenn unlikely to make the Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs blue chip blue line prospect Luke Schenn likely won`t be on the regular roster this season.
Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher said that since he’s a defenseman it makes it even tougher to jump right into the NHL. Luke will have to overwhelm us to play here in his rookie season. The Leafs have a bit of a history of rushing players into the league to play a very difficult position.

Expect Schenn to remain in junior at least one more season with the Kelowna Rockets. Schenn was drafted 5th overall by the Leafs in 2008.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i dunno how it really works, but what about the marlies, wont he even be there? or does that mean you have to be with the leafs

Justin Crowder said...

A player under the age of 20 (of Junior age) cannot play for an AHL affiliate... he is eligible to play either in Toronto or back with his Junior club.

Schenn will, however, be allowed to play up to 10 games with Toronto without losing his eligibility to return to Junior, and a lot of clubs have used these games to get a closer look at their prospects at the NHL level before returning them to their Junior team...

Still, I take Fletcher at his word here, as Toronto is already set at the position and is not in a position to threaten the development of their top prospects. Schenn will certainly get a long look at training camp and will probably stick around until the final cuts are made, but likely won't see regular season action as a Maple Leaf.

Anonymous said...

Give him a few games, just a taste. Let him know where he stands with his development. Other than that, keep him in Junior. Team Canada can use him to smash some heads at the World Juniors this year!

Fred Poulin said...

I could not have explained it better than Justin! It happended with David Perron in St. Louis last year, they wanted to give only 9 games, but finally he stayed with the Blues the whole year. Who knows if another d-man is injured and if White or Van Ryn are traded, maybe Schenn could stick with the Leafs, otherwise he'll be sent back to junior.

Anonymous said...

I am happy this is the direction the Leafs are going with Schenn. It's too crowded at the back end anyways in Leafland.