Flyers' Brayden Schenn: 'Time for me to step up'
Brayden Schenn has a chance to establish himself as a top center as he fills in for injured Claude Giroux.
THREE YEARS AGO, Brayden Schenn laced up for his first training camp with the Flyers with all eyes affixed to him. He was a highly touted first-round pick, referred to around hockey as the best player not yet skating in the NHL.
It would be easy to look at Schenn's numbers - 40 goals and 43 assists in 183 games - and say that he hasn't quite lived up to the hype.
There have been flashes, like the three-point game he produced against the Penguins in the playoffs during his rookie season. Or some of the thundering hits that he's thrown along the end boards on a forecheck.
Schenn's talent and tenacity are undeniable. It's just that his brightest moments have been muddled by invisibility in subsequent games - right after he has whetted the appetite of both the fans and Flyers brass.
Last season, Schenn posted fewer points-per-game (0.50) than he did during the lockout-shortened season in 2012-13 (0.55) - even though the Flyers were a playoff team.
"He's a good, young player," team president Paul Holmgren said in May. "I want him, like a lot of fans, to get better right away. But with any young player, sometimes it takes a little bit longer than we're all prepared to wait."
One quick glance at the Flyers' depth chart in Schenn's first three seasons could help explain the peaks and valleys in the 23-year-old's growth chart.
For one, the Flyers haven't quite figured out where to play him. Schenn is a natural center. But with a logjam of centers in recent years, would he have been better served playing on the left wing?
Until now, there has been no clear hole for Schenn in the lineup. At center, Danny Briere was often slotted on the second line behind Claude Giroux. On the left side, it was James van Riemsdyk in 2011-12 and Scott Hartnell ahead of him the last two seasons.
Van Riemsdyk, Briere and even Hartnell are gone. So, when training camp opened on Friday morning, Schenn was skating alongside Giroux and Jake Voracek on the top line - at least for the first 15 minutes before Giroux limped off the ice.
"It's time for me to step up," Schenn said yesterday. "I feel more confident, more comfortable than in years past. I think I'll get a little more of an opportunity now that 'Hartsy' is gone. That leaves the door open for not only me, but other guys as well.
"It's time for me to step up. I'm in my fourth year now. I've played a lot of games [192] in this league. I'm confident going in."
With Giroux sidelined for at least 2 weeks with a lower-body injury, it's apparent how much Schenn factors into coach Craig Berube's plans. He will center the Flyers' top line with Michael Raffl and Voracek when the Flyers open their exhibition schedule with a split-squad contest against Washington tonight.
Giroux's injury hasn't exactly clarified Schenn's question of position, though. Holmgren said in May he believes Schenn is "a center deep down."
"He's in the middle of the ice right now, which is good for him," Berube said. "It's not like it's such a big change for him going from center to wing. He's touching the puck a lot there, he's skating a little more there. I've got no problem with that."
For his part, Schenn also downplayed the unexpected swap to the middle, saying he'd be ready for "whatever they throw at me."
To continue to expect top-line duties, Schenn will need to come through with consistency. Giroux and Voracek do not often go three or four games with zeroes on the score sheet, like Schenn has been prone to doing.
The outlying question marks - ice time, linemates and even his contract - have been taken out of the mix this year. Schenn earned a pay bump from $810,000 to $2.25 million this season.
With that comes a responsibility to treat October matchups against the Panthers with the same zeal as May meetings with the Penguins - something Holmgren last spring said was an issue.
"If you're confident, you're going to be consistent," Schenn said. "I think not only individuals, but the whole team needs to be more consistent. You need to be consistent to win in this league, to produce and to play well. Hopefully [Giroux] will be back in a couple games and we can try to build a little chemistry."
Slap shots
Craig Berube will coach the Flyers' split-squad roster against Washington in Philadelphia tonight. Assistant coaches Ian Laperriere and Gord Murphy will handle the duties against Toronto at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario. Berube will then join the team in Toronto for tomorrow night's exhibition . . . Pierre-Edouard Bellemare remained center of the projected fourth line with Darroll Powe and Zac Rinaldo during yesterday's on-ice session . . . Expect goaltender Anthony Stolarz to play at least half of tonight's contest in London, where he spent the last two seasons playing for the OHL's Knights . . . Defenseman Mark Alt joined the veteran core yesterday and was paired with free-agent signee Nick Schultz.
Quotable
"It's a tough call, because we've got those three games in a row again next week. I don't even want to play guys in back-to-back games, but I've got to. It's hard to [manage]. Right now, I'm thinking about putting a good lineup together against New Jersey right away at home [on Thursday]. You'd like to get your team together the last couple games, but it's not going to work out that way."
- Coach Craig Berube on juggling the Flyers' preseason lineup, with 2 straight weeks of three games in three nights and veteran minimum lineup requirements.
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