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Why Did Luke Schenn Not Fit?

July 22, 2016, 3:49 PM ET [55 Comments]
Jason Lewis
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



It can be difficult to project how a player will impact a roster or fit into your team from a trade. You can do the best with your pro scouting staff and your own gut feelings but sometimes they just flat out do not work.

While the acquisition of Luke Schenn by the Los Angeles Kings back before the 2015-16 trade deadline was not a complete and total disaster (He had some solid games), overall it was not a good fit in the end for either Schenn or LA. The trade, in conjunction with the Scuderi acquisition, brought upheaval and unfamiliarity to a defensive corps, and it also shoved Schenn into a perhaps more strenuous and complex role than we previously thought.

Even on this very blog and on twitter, I said the trade was a low-risk, potentially solid deal that could shore up the 5-8 spots on defense. Unfortunately, that was incorrect, and Schenn had an immense amount of difficulty fitting into the Kings system.

But why? Why did Schenn not fit? Was it the system? Was it Schenn? Was it both?


Why Schenn Didn't Work for the System


This is an interesting debate all things considered, because looking back at the scouting reports and at his junior career, Schenn was NEVER considered an offensive force. He was considered the best shutdown defenseman in the 2008 draft, where he went 5th overall. This is the same draft where ultimately several outstanding defensemen were selected including Drew Doughty, Zach Bogosian, Alex Pietrangelo, Erik Karlsson, Colton Teubert, John Carlson, Jake Gardiner and Tyler Myers. That was just the first round. So how has a player selected No. 5 overall in such a deep defensive draft, turned out the way he has?

Take a look at this scouting report from Bob McKenzie of TSN posted on LeafsNation,

"What the scouts really like about this guy is that he knows that he's not a great offensive defenceman. He knows his limitations. He knows that he's a defence-first guy and he doesn't try to do too much with the puck. But what he does do with the puck is highly efficient. He makes the first pass. This guy did not have a single point in the World Junior Championship and was arguably one of the best players on the ice from start to finish in that tournament. He led Canada in plus/minus, he was a plus-five at the World Junior. This is a guy who knows his job and knows how to do it, and you're right. He's physically punishing, a shutdown defenceman, mean and nasty."



The Hockey News forecaster (Which humorously has a Trevor Lewis picture for Schenn...he really can do everything folks) also had this to say


Assets: Has excellent shutdown ability and leadership qualities. Is steady, bull-like strong and takes the man with aplomb. Loves to hit and block shots. Strong positionally, he has the mobility to recover when beat. Makes a solid first pass.

Flaws: Has a heavy blast from the point, but he doesn’t possess great offensive instincts, which limit his ability to put up points consistently at the National Hockey League level. Puts himself out of position from time to time.

Career Potential:
Big shutdown defenseman with some upside.


Looking back at his junior career, Schenn ever had more than 30 points playing for Kelowna. That doesn't scream offense. So was it strange to see that when Schenn went to a rebuilding Toronto Maple Leafs he scored at nearly the same rate as his junior days?

You have to look back at Ron Wilson's tenure as a Maple Leaf coach and ask if it was the right environment for 18-year old Luke Schenn to break in with. Hindsight would suggest it wasn't, and perhaps Schenn developed some poor habits or a lack of confidence.

Regardless, we only have the Luke Schenn of the Los Angeles Kings to really dig into. However, it was important to establish a few things with Schenn before moving to that. He is not, by design, a play driving defenseman.


So, if that be true, what looks wrong about this chart.



(Click on the graph if it is too small! Sorry!)

That's right, in a 20 game sampling of the Kings dmen towards the end of the season, Schenn not only had the highest per 60 zone exit attempts, but the worst success rate. In a very basic nutshell, Schenn was trying to do too much at something he was not very good at. Or at least in the Kings system wasn't very good at.

Was this always the case with Schenn? We cannot properly answer that having only watched him play for the Kings. However, we can now reference back to the previously mentioned scouting reports of both his WHL and NHL days. It seems like somewhere along the line, Schenn started attempting more and more zone exits and tried to be more of a play driver, which didn't work out very well. Even on a game to game zone exit basis, which is generally a good statistic for play driving, schenn was attempting an ungodly amount of zone exits a game. Almost into the double digit range on many nights which is kind of absurd when you think about the fact that Muzzin and Doughty usually kept their numbers crisp and in the 6 to 7 range.

It was worse when things like this happened.




This says a few things both about Schenn and about the Kings system.


Why the system didn't work for Schenn

The Kings like to balance their D. They like one defensive minded player and one offensive minded player. They like someone who can drive the play, and someone who can be a safety valve. Look at the successful Kings pairings. Muzzin and Martinez. One safety valve, one play driver. Doughty and McNabb. One play driver, one safety valve.

The problem that came about with Luke Schenn is we weren't really sure which of these he was. He was sold as a safety valve, but didn't show the best reads in his own end. He attempted to be a play driver, but also showed struggles in that area. So what on earth was Schenn within the Kings system? A play driver or a safety valve?

Here, perhaps, is an outstanding example of what can happen when neither player has the confidence to move the puck out of the zone. This is the Schenn and Scuderi pairing (Which ironically was Schenn's strongest D pairing on the season, but we'll get to that in a bit.) In this game against Minnesota, Schenn attempted 8 zone exits and failed on half of them. This was one such play in a pair of GIFs.

Roll the tape.








In this play neither one of these guys looked entirely confident in their ability to move the puck out. To be fair to Scuderi, he actually made a good first pass at the start of this play, but Kopitar fed it back to him in order to go for a change. From there it was a bit of a mess. Three D-to-D passes happened with limited up ice pressure by the time someone actually asserted themselves up to the line to move the puck. By then, Minnesota had so viciously locked down the neutral zone with bodies it was a relative mine field to move the puck through. Credit the opponent for taking away the time and space, but this is pretty standard practice for an NHL team playing with a lead. Clog the neutral zone and make opponents find a way. So when you have a player who is perhaps hesitant or not up to snuff in executing a breakout, it is a bad time for everyone. This not only delayed the Kings advance up ice, it gave Minnesota time to settle back, it took away any semblance of speed heading through the zone, and it cut into offensive zone time the Kings could have had. Think about it, when you are going D to D in your own zone, it is pretty difficult for your wingers or center to get any speed coming up ice since they are stationary. It pretty much leads you in for dump in plays. And to put a nice bow on that idea, Schenn averaged the second most dump in plays of any Kings defenseman.

This leads us to an analysis of the Kings pairings with Schenn on them. Something we can look at thanks to the great tool on Corsica.hockey

Here is a look at the pairings Schenn was on, sorted by straight CF% and xGF%

CF%



xGF%




While the Scuderi/Schenn pairing was ironically the major outlier here, sample size should maybe be taken into consideration. Likewise with the Ehrhoff pairing.

Never the less, Schenn essentially struggled when he was the designated play driver.

Think about McNabb and Martinez, Schenn's two worst D partners. Both play the role of deferment on pairs with Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin. However, when it came to being paired with Schenn, they were habitually deferring to their not Drew Doughty/Jake Muzzin partner. Thus we see very questionable possession numbers, especially from the pairing of Martinez and Schenn.

Schenn's best partner, Muzzin, was the designated play driver. He took the responsibility away from Schenn, allowing him to play more of a safety valve role. Ironically, the Schenn/Muzzin pair saw a higher number of difficult zone starts (more defensive than offensive) than any other pairing Schenn was on. They did well. Surprising, but not surprising when you start theorycrafting around the Kings system and the different roles and dynamics players have within it.

Going back a little but further into his Philly career this also can be seen. Schenn's best possession numbers over the past two years came when paired with Michael Del Zotto, a puck mover (Although their limited time together prior to the trade did not look positive). His worst numbers came with Nic Grossman and Andrew MacDonald.

Moving On

Overall, part of Luke Schenn's struggles with the Kings has to fall partly on the team for not recognizing he was playing a bit out of his role on some nights when he was paired up with McNabb and Martinez. This also is something of concern with Alec Martinez, who has fallen into a much more passive role as he has aged versus his haydays playing with Matt Greene as the more mobile and aggressive option. That, however, is a different topic for a different day. The struggles of Schenn also speak to the overall difficulties the Kings had in trying to find the right balance for the bottom pair almost all season. Despite their seeming to be some passable play from the likes of McBain, Ehrhoff, and Forbort, the team never could quite find the right gelling on the 4-7 area of the defensive depth chart. This was perfectly exemplified by the late season struggles of a player like Luke Schenn. Defense is a difficult position to learn, and from team to team the responsibility potentially changes in how they utilize their rearguards. With the Kings the play starts with their defense. When you have a player playing outside of his given role, and trying way too hard to fill that role, the results are, well, as you would expect. The question still lingers however about the now free agent: what kind of player is he? We still do not really know, and he gave no team a certain answer in his play in the second half of the Kings season.

Given the cost, it still does not seem like a bad trade that the Kings took a chance on. However, the results could have perhaps been better predicted with an understanding of what Schenn's role was going to be on the Kings roster. He ended up being the play driver on many nights, either by designation or by his own accord, and it did not work out.

The Kings have moved on from Schenn, and the 26-year old is still searching for a new team. He is still young by NHL standards and should find a home somewhere. It will just not be in L.A.


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