Wednesday FTB: remembering Luke Schenn’s last game as a Leaf

Spanning the last decade+ and the next few months in 1000 words or less

I write this as my girlfriend is making plans to go back to her parents house and find her not-quite-official Luke Schenn jersey from under her bed because oh my god the late 00s are back, baby.

The following is the Leafs roster and lineup from the last time Luke Schenn was a Toronto Maple Leaf. It was in Spring 2012, a few months before the former fifth overall pick in 2008 would be traded to Philadelphia for James van Riemsdyk and beginning another era of dreamy, tall, chiselled Leafs.

Clarke MacArthur – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Matthew Lombardi – Mikhail Grabovski – Matt Frattin
Joey Crabb – Tim Connolly – David Steckel
Jay Rosehill – Mike Brown – Colby Armstrong (A)

Dion Phaneuf (C) – Mike Komisarek (A)
John Michael-Liles – Luke Schenn
Jake Gardiner – Cody Franson

Ben Scrivens
Jonas Gustavsson

It is April 7th, 2012. Joffrey Lupul, Nikolai Fulemin Kulemin, Carl Gunnarsson, and James Reimer were all injured for the final game of the year to no one’s surprise. The Habs were finishing last in the Northeast with Andrei Markov, Tomas Kaberle, and a young PK Subban on their back end.

It was a 4-1 loss to the Habs that night. Colby Armstrong played five minutes in his last season with the Leafs before playing 37 games in Montreal the next year and Vaxjo the year after. Clarke MacArthur and Phil Kessel led the team with six shots each. Tim Connolly led the team with a -4. Ben Scrivens allowed three goals on 26 shots, while Peter Budaj allowed one on 31.

A 22-year-old Jake Gardiner led the team in icetime, playing over 25 minutes (including five minutes on the power play and two minutes on the PK). Kind of puts into perspective where 22-year-old Rasmus Sandin is at in comparison.

The only players from that game who are still in the league are Phil “The Thrill” Kessel, Lars Eller, Max Pacioretty, and the young Luke Schenn. Oh, as well as referees Kelly Sutherland and Ghislain Hebert, and linemen Michel Cormier and Scott Cherrey.

Okay, and I have to show you the gameflow and heatmap from the game. Randy Carlyle Hockey, Baby! One period a game!

Now we are back to the present day, Luke Schenn is a Leaf, JVR is a Flyer (but for how long?), and the Bruins are the team to beat in the Leafs division. What’s old is new again.

Well, not quite everything.

Trades Recap

Rasmus Sandin ($1.4m) to Washington for Erik Gustafsson ($800k) and Boston’s first round pick. This trade was partially a cap dump, partially recouping assets, and partially upgrading at a position the Leafs weren’t planning to play Sandin in. Gustafsson will be a pleasant surprise as a player who is Rasmus Sandin, but more experienced and more reliable. Best of luck to Rasmus, but he was just too young to be what the Leafs needed. Going all-in means going all-in.

Pierre Engvall ($2.25m) got traded to the New York Islanders for a third round pick in 2024. This was mostly a cap dump, but I think this is the result of the Leafs finding the players they wanted in their bottom six, and not just working with the players they had. Same with Sandin.

The Leafs sent their third round pick in 2023 to Vancouver for Luke Schenn ($850k). What else can you say except “he’s back!” The league leader in hits (258 and counting) and the guy with the worst shot share on Vancouver (45%) might be a regular in the lineup if Justin Holl isn’t careful.

After these two deals, the Leafs have $958k in cap space on a 23-player roster (12 forwards, 9 defenders, and 2 goalies) once Matt Murray returns and Joseph Woll gets sent back. Until then, they have $4.77 million in space (but not really).

The Leafs likely have one more move left in them. Who is it for?

Other Trades

We can finally shut up about Patrick Kane, he’s on the Rangers now (for a second, third, and fourth). I won’t mention where he should be.

Gustav Nyquist is going to Minnesota’s LTIR for a fifth. The league did send out a memo essentially saying a player can’t sit on LTIR if they’re healthy and wait for the regular season to end. They’ll be “closely monitoring” it. We’ll see what happens to Minny here.

Marcus Johansson also went from Washington to Minny for a third.

Edmonton got Mattias Ekholm for Tyson Barrie and a first. I guess they finally learned what a defenseman is.

Jesse Puljujarvi went to Carolina for a prospect. He basically got sent to a farm upstate with all the other hockey players who can’t shoot.

Nick Jensen is off the trade board.

Keep an eye on this. I went to sleep shortly after.

Maybe something here, too.

And some links: