In Schenn's rookie year everyone was high on him. He played tough and logged a fair number of minutes. He still made mistakes, but those were always shrugged off as "he is young" or "he is a rookie"
Well now Gardiner won't be a rookie and I'm afraid that he will now be picked alive for every error he makes.
If this team is winning, no one cares if they make mistakes unless they win.
If Gardiner does not overcome a sophomore slump/jinx, and ends up scoring less then 80pts on D...watch. Spot the vultures, tie the nooses...he better runs.
As for the topic, Leaf players take a lot of abuse for common incidents which many players commit around the league - but obviously get much less attention.
If Gardiner plays like garbage, he should be criticized. What's the issue here? Are we simply supposed to coddle our favorites and have lax standards because we like those players?
Schenn gets such a bad wrap its incredible. I mean the kid was the talk of the town in his rookie season. He was playing on a team with veteran players who welcomed him with arms wide open. The team had a different GM and overal mentality. As soon as the house was cleaned and the veterans were traded and management changed his play dropped. He was asked to do the usual "put on weight and get bigger" and his footspeed got worse. He was such a heart and sole guy and still is. Only relatively talented player on this team thats willing to take a bruising for his teammates. In the right situation this kid is going to absolutely haunt the leafs. Hes the ideal Burke player which is why i do not understand the thought of trading him. Tough as nails and can put up some decent points. I HOPE Burke gives him a shot under Carlyle
So I've read through this thread and holy ****, Luke Schenn is probably the most overrated player the Leafs have had in the past 5 years.
I mean he's not bad but some of you people need to look up what wishful thinking is. I know I say this in like every thread, but seriously people just because you really want him to be good doesn't make it so.
Also gtfo with comparing him in any way to Karlsson, you're just embarrassing yourselves now.
Schenn is not an offensive D man but is a very solid shut down D-man in a system that Carlyle will play. I sure hope we keep him as he is one of a few Leafs that cares.
Suter looks awful so far. He can hardly handle a pass and is not very good at shutting down the offense. If any Toronto player was playing like him, people would be getting ready to burn their house down?
Beauchemin was a defensive rock for the Ducks before Burke signed him. When he got traded back to the Ducks after a year and a half of playing for Wilson, he was a complete mess according to Carlyle.
If Wilson's so-called "system" can do that to an experienced vet like Beauchemin in just a year and a half, I can only imagine what kind of effect four years of Ronnie had on an 18 y/o kid straight out of junior.
I think we'll see Luke's confidence return, and a huge difference in his overall game under Carlyle's tight defensive system.
you cannot compare the two defencemen. if edler was on our team, he wouldn't get the same abuse as schenn does. edler is an established defencemen. schenn isn't. schenn is still finding himself and was a very high pick. of course it's not schenn's fault, but you can clearly see why you the comparison doesn't work. to take an extreme example, if lidstrom was traded here this year, and somehow costed us a brutal goal in the playoffs, i highly doubt leafs nation would be all over lidstrom.
You make fun of Schenn by labelling a defensive mishap by his name....then you say Schenn gets too much flack...how the hell are you not a hypocrite there.
I'm surprised this thread is still open. The OP has nothing constructive to say rather than picking out other D-men's mistakes to justify Schenn's defensive woes. It's a pathetic attempt.
it hurts me that you guys are grouping schenn in the same breathe as phaneuf defensively.
**** you all!!!
I know, what an insult to Phaneuf. The guy plays almost half a game (10th in the league in ToI/G), every game, against the best lines in the league. Schenn plays half as much, and against scrubs in most cases.
