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Originally Posted by Stephen
That's a fairly poor argument. For one thing, comparisons made in juniors are meaningless. Gilbert Brule was compared to Mark Messier, wasn't he?
Also, Foote wasn't a prospect that came with top five pick fanfare, and he did have to ply his trade the more traditional route as opposed to being handed a job in the NHL, (which is probably what Schenn should have done in the first place).
Not to mention the fact that Foote was a pretty snarly competitor, while Schenn often looks overwhelmed out there on any given shift, and his hits are completely ineffective in even stopping a puck carrier from going to the net.
What I can tell you is that with four years of NHL experience, Foote was already on the cusp of winning a Stanley Cup, and that was at 24-25. Schenn on the other hand, is playing worse than he did as a rookie.
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Why isn't it possible for Schenn to up his game and still be that top hard hitting dman?
Adam Foote was an exceptional dman so lets drop that comparison for now.
However people are unrealistic with Schenn sometimes. The same people screaming about him were probably the same people complaining about Bogosian last year.
Big bodied dmen and power forwards generally take a little longer to develop. Notable very valuable big bodied hard hitting dmen with offensive upside in Coburn (8th overall) was only playing his rookie season at 22, Bieksa was just starting off in the AHL or all-star Girardi was still in the AHL.
Gardiner drafted in the same draft as Schenn only just played his rookie season this past year. If he takes a step back next season will everybody also throw him under the bus as well?
Players have ups and downs in their careers. Giving up on Schenn as a 22 year old dman who has had to learn at the NHL level instead of looking like a rock star in junior and the AHL is a huge mistake.