Former Flyer James van Riemsdyk adjusting to life in Toronto

TORONTO - It has taken him a dozen games, but James van Riemsdyk is finally getting used to seeing himself in the fabled blue and white of the Maple Leafs.

If it feels like the Flyers and van Riemsdyk parted ways forever ago, you aren't wrong. He was dealt on June 23, not long after the NHL draft wrapped up in Pittsburgh. The NHL lockout left him in limbo. He wasn't allowed to wear the Maple Leafs logo, but he wanted to ditch his familiar Flyers equipment and start over.

"A weird, kind of in-between feeling," van Riemsdyk said.

Monday night will mark the first on-ice referendum on the swap of van Riemsdyk for defenseman Luke Schenn when the Flyers take on Toronto at Air Canada Centre. It's a day both players have had circled on their calendars since the schedule came out - a first chance to prove that their drafting organizations gave up on them too soon.

Van Riemsdyk, 23, leads the Leafs in scoring with seven goals. Schenn, 23, leads the NHL in hits with 46.

"When I was given the opportunity to play and be a key contributor on a team, I held up my end of the bargain," van Riemsdyk said at the Leafs' practice facility Sunday. "For whatever reason, over the last year with injuries and other stuff, those types of things got in the way. I always knew I had the confidence in myself . . . That's pretty much how I see the whole situation."

A quarter of the way through a shortened season, and it's still way too soon to even begin to judge the deal. Leafs coach Randy Carlyle didn't have van Riemsdyk pegged as a top-line player to start the season; JVR seized hold of it when former Flyer Joffrey Lupul went down with an injury in the first week.

In fact, van Riemsdyk began the year with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov. He has utilized the ice time - nearly 4 minutes more per game than he averaged over his career in Philly - to slide into a tie for fourth in league scoring with Steven Stamkos. Playing with All-Star Phil Kessel, even though he's not scoring, certainly has its advantages.

Ask Carlyle about van Riemsdyk and the response may seem tepid. "He's given us what we've asked," the coach said. "He's scored some goals and he's a big man."

On the surface, it sounds like a coach who has publicly pushed for his player to plant himself in front of the net with limited success. Deep down, I hear a coach in hockey's biggest market trying to temper expectations.

Here in Canada's cosmopolitan nerve center, if Carlyle were to pump van Riemsdyk's tires, he'd be hailed as a second coming of Mats Sundin. It's still so early. Hockey media is just different here. We don't run daily 10-page sections titled: "The WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING? SERIES: Part 2 in a Series So Long Even We Don't Know When It's Going to End."

Some figured van Riemsdyk would struggle under the magnifying glass that is hockey in Toronto with the inconsistencies in his game, the frequent injuries and the big contract. The thought among ex-Leafs is that playing in Toronto made life miserable.

What others have failed to realize, and what van Riemsdyk is quickly learning, is that when things are going well, there may be no better, more fervent or supportive fan base in hockey.

For now, everyone - including Carlyle - is in a wait-and-see mode. Van Riemsdyk is healthy, something he often wasn't with the Flyers, and the Leafs are winning. They accumulated just 20 points in the final 31 games of the season last year to finish 14th and plummet out of the playoff race.

Maybe, just maybe, van Riemsdyk needed to spread his wings. He doesn't have the pressure of playing in front of his parents nightly; a quick trip down the New Jersey Turnpike has turned into a quick flight for them. Frans van Riemsdyk was so in-tune with his son's game that he used to say he could predict the type of game James would have based solely on his warmup.

In Toronto, van Riemsdyk is no longer the No. 2 overall pick who couldn't hack it. That baggage remained in Philly, where his first impression was really his only impression.

"I think anyone, when they first get drafted, that's their thought . . . They're going to play there for 15 years, maybe win a Cup or two and sail off into the sunset," van Riemsdyk said. "But the reality of that is it doesn't happen too often, staying with one team for your whole career. Ultimately, sometimes things don't work out for whatever reason."

Schenn has had nearly the opposite introduction. With the Flyers, he sputtered out of the gate, struggling through his first three or four games. Schenn has rallied - and Peter Laviolette said he's "become a really valuable player on our back end." Both players are settling into comfort zones. Ironically, the trade has made it more convenient for Schenn's parents to see him and his brother, Brayden, who is in his second season as a Flyer.

"[My season has] been better as of lately," Luke Schenn said. "It depends on what stats you're looking at. I think success as a team makes you feel a lot better about yourself."

The deal was a risk for both teams, a swap of high No. 1 picks of the same age and different positions. The fact that it remained on the table for 6 months before Paul Holmgren decided to pull the trigger gives you some sort of idea of gravity. Twelve games in, we can't pretend to know which gamble will pay off.