Luke Schenn imparting some wisdom on his blueline teammates; drops amazing quote about clearing the zone
Luke Schenn was always looked at as a veteran leader since the Leafs decided to bring him back to Toronto. Not only has he played 925 NHL games and won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he also plays with an edge and more intensity than pretty much anyone else on the team not named Wayne Simmonds.
Schenn was never the guy who was going to make the mostly flashy play in the offensive zone. He was never going to be the guy who scored the clutch goal late in the game to tie up the game. He was brought in to be the guy who takes the body and makes the right play defensively.
At times this season, the Leafs have gotten into some trouble when trying to clear the zone. As a team who puts a lot of emphasis on maintaining puck possession, sometimes, when there's no clean outlet pass, the defenders have held onto the puck just a little too long. At times, those plays have resulted in the puck winding up in the Leafs' net.
On Wednesday, Schenn revealed that he's trying to help the rest of the Leafs' blueline to break some of those bad habits and make better decisions with the puck to limit the number of goals against and the number of mistakes made in the defensive zone. Following Wednesday's practice, Schenn told the media in Toronto exactly what type of message he's been trying to send to the guys in the locker room.
Honestly, I love this. For a team who tends to overthink and make the odd mistake that ends up being a backbreaker in tight games, this is such a great message to send. Simplifying the game is never a bad idea and Schenn has played enough games to know that, sometimes, just relieving a little bit of pressure can make all the difference.
| POLL | ||
MARS 29 | 256 ANSWERS Luke Schenn imparting some wisdom on his blueline teammates; drops amazing quote about clearing the zone Do you like the message that Luke Schenn is trying to send to the guys in the Leafs' locker room? | ||
| Love it! | 209 | 81.6 % |
| Not sure that's the right advice | 14 | 5.5 % |
| I dislike that message | 3 | 1.2 % |
| It's just common sense | 30 | 11.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
