Canucks Under the Microscope: Luke Schenn

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We’re looking back at the 2021-22 Vancouver Canucks with a focus on Luke Schenn. Over the coming weeks, we’ll break down the season and take a look at how player situations stack up going into 2022-23 …

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Name: Luke Schenn

Age: 32.
Position: Defense.
Career stats: GP: 863, G: 38, W: 131, Sts: 169.

Contract status: One year remaining on a two-year contract that carries a US$850.00 salary cap hit and $900,000 in total salary.

How 2021-22 went: Much better than expected. From sitting out six of the first seven games, being injured for eight in November and testing positive for COVID-19 in December and missing two more outings, the popular and hard-hitting depth defender took advantage of opportunities.

Injuries to Kyle Burroughs and Tucker Poolman combined with indifferent play, a trade-deadline departure of the mercurial Travis Hamonic, and an effective pairing with Quinn Hughes the final 49 games, allowed Schenn to finish with 66 games — his highest total since 78 with Arizona in 2016-17.

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The measure of Schenn’s contributions on and off the ice proved he was one of the NHL’s best bargains. He led the Canucks in hits (273) and was second in blocked shots (69) and fought seven times when challenged, or coming to the aid of a teammate. And being that calm voice of Stanley Cup champion reason led to a Masterton Trophy nomination as the franchise player who best exemplified the criteria of perseverance, dedication and sportsmanship.

It was never more evident than April 18 when the Canucks pounded the visiting Dallas Stars 6-2 to stay in the hunt for a playoff position. Late in the second period, the hulking Jamie Benn tried to spark his club that was trailing 4-2 by running Hughes hard into the corner boards.

Schenn responded by challenging the captain and scored a unanimous decision in an old-school bout that ended when Benn was thrown to the ice. The crowd went crazy.

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“That’s what great teammates do and Luke has been a great teammate all year and he did a great job,” said Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau. “It lifted our team up even more.”

What Schenn supplied was professionalism. He didn’t complain when not playing and propped up an emerging young core to understand ice time has to be earned and any sense of entitlement is a buzz-killer. Schenn can struggle with foot speed, but not the desire to be a help and not a hindrance.

“I like that you know what you’re getting from him,” said Hughes. “He’s hard defensively and not worried about getting up in the play. He just wants to be solid. He’s got a good brain for the game and is smart. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.”

How the future looks: On a good team, Schenn is a depth defenseman and not a second-pairing fixture. He knows that. That’s how it played out for him to win two Cups with Tampa Bay. And with Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford bemoaning a back end that lacked structure — especially in failed attempts to exit the defensive zone and turning over too many pucks — there’s expected to be change.

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In a perfect world, Rutherford finds a younger and more prolific right-shot solution to partner with Hughes and take that union to another level. And with rookie Jack Rathbone and Travis Dermott as a possible third-pairing deployment, the lasting value in Schenn will be evident once again.

There will be injuries, there will be struggles and there will always be Schenn to be the insurance policy. A solid season could fetch a decent draft pick at the trade deadline as contenders look for veterans to add elements of experience and depth.

And the odds favor Schenn returning to the playoffs elsewhere next season, not here.

“I love it — it just gives me chills thinking about it,” Schenn said late this season when the Canucks still had a post-season shot. “It comes down to compete and will and basically one-on-one matchups.”

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Greatest strengths: Size, grit, determination, demeanor. Will angle off the opposition to compensate for a lack of foot speed, he is always willing to engage the opposition physically and fight if he has to. His seven bouts of him were the most since the same number in 2008-09.

Greatest weaknesses: Like his peers, there can’t be a penchant to simply throw pucks off the glass, or flipping them into the neutral zone to exit the zone. A total of 42 giveaways in 66 games and just seven take-aways for Schenn this season must improve.

Is he trade bait?: The deadline is the optimum time to move the pending unrestricted free agent for a pick to help stock depleted development shelves.

The big question: Can he prepare this off-season to hold off the passage of time from curtailing his effectiveness?

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Read more from our Canucks Under the Microscope series

• Elijah Pettersson
• Quinn Hughes
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson
• Bo Horvat
•Tyler Myers
• Luke Schenn

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