I've heard Luke Schenn compared to Chris Pronger without much offense. Schenn's potential is a top pairing defenseman who hits hard but doesn't play a lot of offense which works for Toronto since the Leafs have plenty of slick puck moving defensemen but no one who can really rough it up.
However, when Pronger came into the league, he took a lot of flack for being a poor defenseman in Hartford. This was because he was a 19 year old kid playing on a terrible team. Does that sound familiar? It should. Luke Schenn will be 19 when the season starts this October, and the Leafs are going to be gunning for a lottery pick.
Toronto's list of defenders under contract so far is: Bryan McCabe ($5.75), Pavel Kubina ($5), Tomas Kaberle ($4.25), Finger ($3.5), Colaiacovo ($1.28), White ($0.85), and Stralman ($0.75). That's seven guys, and there are only three defensive pairings. We should admit off the bat that the top four salaried guys are going to be playing full time; McCabe, Kubina, Kaberle, Finger. (Ed. note: In the comments ninja pointed out that I forgot Frogren. Oops.) That leaves two spots. I'm looking at these two spots from the following angle. Which of these players are good enough to warrant keeping Schenn from seeing NHL ice time?
Anton Stralman showed flashes of brilliance last year. I think he deserves the fifth spot.
Ian White sucks, and anyone who disagrees should let me know so that I don't ever bother talking to you about hockey.
I really want to like Carlo Colaiacovo, but he's made of glass. Collectively Leafs fans have been holding their breath waiting for him to mature and I think it's time we admit that he's not going to. He seems like a nice guy, he's a great player when he's healthy, but he's not healthy. He won't ever be healthy. However this might work this season. I want Schenn to get some NHL time, but if he's not quite ripe yet Colaicovo is ready to play. If Colaiacovo stays healthy this year maybe he becomes enticing trade bait for more picks in next year's draft.
The more I think about it, perhaps the thing to do is to use Schenn, Stralman, and Colaicovo on a rotating carousel to get all of them NHL time, and lots of ice time when they're down in the AHL, with the exception of Carlo who could probably use time off here and there.
We'll wait for the season to start to see what happens, but just remember: becoming a good NHL player takes time. Luke Schenn will not be the best defender we have for two, three, or maybe even four years. Patience. If it takes him four years to become the beast we know he can be, he'll still only be 23.
