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Leaf Rumours

BeLeafer said:
I can appreciate a strong defensive game. I haven't seen anything boner worthy just yet. Sure, it is impressive that he can play at the NHL level at such a young age. But I think you're overlooking a lot of mediocre and at times awful play to suggest that this has been a cakewalk for him.
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Defensive defenders are typically expected to go unnoticed aside from the odd big hit.

Other than a roughly 20-30 game chunk to start this past season, Schenn has been excellent in his young career.

Still very young and he could emerge as a dominant defensive blueliner, but I'd give him up for Ryan in a nanosecond.
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and that's not the question....of course I would flip him for Ryan in a heart beat. The question is whether or not the difference in value between Tomas Kaberle and Bobby Ryan is Luke Schenn.

It isn't.
 
"Impact hits" aren't nearly as valuable as hits where a dman can go into the corner and separate his man from the puck, like Schenn does regularly.
 
The most promising part of Schenn's game is his ability to move the puck. Sure there are lots of big physical, defensive dmen out there, but there aren't many who are good at that, but can also get the puck up ice effectively.

And that is the difference between a hell of a defenseman, and a 2nd pairing, guy thats easy to replace.
 
MindzEye said:
and that's not the question....of course I would flip him for Ryan in a heart beat. The question is whether or not the difference in value between Tomas Kaberle and Bobby Ryan is Luke Schenn.

It isn't.
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Fair enough. I think you greatly overrate him, as does Burke. But that's just my take - I could certainly be guilty of underrating him.

I have not been especially impressed.
 
BeLeafer said:
The worst stat outside of +/-. I've seen maybe two or three serious impact hits from him.
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When the same guys are at the top of the league every year, it starts to gain some validity.

as for "impact" hits, feel free to youtube it, there's a bunch.
 
BeLeafer said:
Fair enough. I think you greatly overrate him, as does Burke. But that's just my take - I could certainly be guilty of underrating him.

I have not been especially impressed.
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If he was 23 yrs old and playing like he does, I would generally agree. The thing that I think you're overlooking is just how rare it is for a defender of his type, to be as good as he is, this young.

Seriously, take a look at a list of all the dominant defensive defenders in the league and see what they were doing at 19-20 yrs old. Schenn was logging 20+ minutes a night when they were working on their games in the CHL/AHL/NCAA for the most part.
 
I think Schenn is the perfect little robotoid NHLer that teams like to condition. But to me, he is a Ponikarovsky. Bulky to some extent, but would rather cup a fly and release it, rather than hurt it.

IF Schenn turns out to be anything at all other than a Luke Richardson, I will be amazed. Two steps and panic, seems to be his mandate. The panic doesn't seem to be recognized by many, but to me, he is terrified of fast play. Dazed by it. And I don't see him EVER coping with it.
 
MindzEye said:
If he was 23 yrs old and playing like he does, I would generally agree. The thing that I think you're overlooking is just how rare it is for a defender of his type, to be as good as he is, this young.
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I'm not really overlooking it though. One the one hand, I've acknowledged that it's impressive for a young blueliner to stick at the NHL level. However, this is on a very thin team. He was competing with the likes of Jeff Finger and Jonas Frogen in his rookie season.

Seriously, take a look at a list of all the dominant defensive defenders in the league and see what they were doing at 19-20 yrs old. Schenn was logging 20+ minutes a night when they were working on their games in the CHL/AHL/NCAA for the most part.
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Readiness does not mean a player has a higher ceiling.
 
BeLeafer said:
A reputational stat. Tough guy reputations carry weight with officials, always have.
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Stephane Robidas
Matt Greene
Doug Murray
Brent Seabrook
Brad Stuart
Zach Bogosian

all in the top 10...hardly a group who carry "tough guy reputations"

the rest of the top 10?

Andrew Alberts
Dion Phaneuf
Andy Sutton
Brooks Orpik

Feel free to tell me which one you've seen play that you don't think hits a lot.
 
BeLeafer said:
I'm not really overlooking it though. One the one hand, I've acknowledged that it's impressive for a young blueliner to stick at the NHL level. However, this is on a very thin team. He was competing with the likes of Jeff Finger and Jonas Frogen in his rookie season.
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You'll find similar scrubs to guys like Frogren & Finger competing for 4th-6th spot minutes on many teams in the league though.



Readiness does not mean a player has a higher ceiling.
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It's not definitive, no. It's a hell of an indicator at that age though.
 
I'll have to pick this up later though, just found out that a friend of mine passed away in a car accident south of town here earlier today.
 
teeds said:
I think Schenn is the perfect little robotoid NHLer that teams like to condition. But to me, he is a Ponikarovsky. Bulky to some extent, but would rather cup a fly and release it, rather than hurt it.

IF Schenn turns out to be anything at all other than a Luke Richardson, I will be amazed. Two steps and panic, seems to be his mandate. The panic doesn't seem to be recognized by many, but to me, he is terrified of fast play. Dazed by it. And I don't see him EVER coping with it.
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Schenn was better as a rookie than Luke Richardson was at any point in his career.

Edit: so sorry to hear that, Mindz. My thoughts are with you and his family right now. That's bloody awful.
 
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