Schenn Simply Seems Soft

It was a season ago when an 18 year old Luke Schenn burst on to the Toronto scene with great force and promise. Just a short while after his rookie season, 10 games in to his second season in fact Luke has looked a little out of place. Not even 20 years old yet (20 on November 2) we cannot give up on a promising young player with great leadership qualities.

Let us look at the possibilities;

1. Sophomore Jinx? by his own admission Luke does not believe in the Sophomore jinx, and in my opinion the jinx is mainly a mental aspect of the game for the sophomore player; a tool to explain the poor play of a young player. In reality the jinx is other players in the league having a better scouting report on a second year player than that of a rookie. If the sophomores would wrap their heads around that they'd be fine, they just have to work harder to create the plays because they won't have as much room.

2. New defense partners? For the early part of this season Luke has been paired with Anaheim's Stanley Cup stalwart Francois Beauchimen. Both Luke and Beauchimen have struggled thus far and has prompted Wilson to split them up. Which has started to work for both players. I think the core of the defence with 3 new bodies, so half of the D has contributed to this as well.

3. Lack of physical play? We have a winner! Last season Luke threw big hits, some times 2 or 3 in a single shift. Luke fought, he blocked shots, so why not this season. With the Leafs struggles this season I believe that Schenn has not wanted to be caught out of position so he hasn't tried to step up and get those big, game changing hits. He has had one fight and looked nervous in it (Vs Tanner Glass). Last season he fought 7 times all of them developed out of physical play, Chris Neil (loss), Rob Davidson (loss), Tyler Kennedy (won), Jared Boll(won), Dominic Moore(won), Steve Montador(won) and Scott Hartnell(loss). Last season he threw many big hits such as the one where he completely erased Malkin from the play.

To sum this up, Schenn has struggled but he can get out of this himself. Just start to throw his weight around. He will not get you a bunch of points or play on the first PP, but to think that a 20 point D-man who could be a great Captain in the future and play in big game situations with out being a liability at either end of the ice is a good thought to have. At 19 and yet to play 2 seasons in the NHL it is way to early to really judge Luke, but if he plays the way that got him to the show, then it will show every one who doubted him.

London Knights: The Hunters not the Hunted

It was back in 2000 that Mark and Dale Hunter purchased the OHL franchise that was mired in futility and it wouldn't take long for them to make their mark in London and in the OHL. The purchase agreement hinged on the City of London building a new state of the art sports and entertainment facility to house the team. Global Spectrum was contracted to build the new home of the London Knight; The John Labatt Centre which opened in October of 2002.

Every year under head coach Dale and GM Mark the Knights have been one of the OHL/CHL's top teams capturing the memorial cup in 2005 on home ice against Sidney Crosby and the Oceanic. That in a year where the Knights set a CHL record for the longest streak without a loss at 29-0-2.

Whether through trades, signings or drafting the Knights have produced some very good NHL talent with 7 first round picks since 2002, including 3 first overall picks.

2002- Rick Nash, 1st
2003- Cory Perry, 28th
2004- Rob Schremp, 25th
2007- Patrick Kane, 1st
2007- Sam Gagner, 6th
2009- John Tavares, 1st
2009- Nazem Kadri, 7th

In the Hunter era there have been many Knights that have moved into the NHL;

Steve Mason, Dave Bolland, Dennis Wideman, Brandon Prust, Daniel Girardi, Sergei Kostitsyn

Just to name a few.

The Hunters will surely get their chance in the NHL at some point much to the chagrin of many London fans. The London Knights are a great success story in Junior hockey, playing to a sellout crowd of almost 10, 000 every night, which won't drop anytime soon as the waiting list for season tickets is over 1000 names deep.

With names like Jared Knight and Kalle Ekelund eligible for the 2010 draft, this team will continue to supply the NHL with some high end talent.