Pete DeBoer saw it first with Joe Thornton when he was in San Jose, then with Joe Pavelski while in Dallas. Now, it is 35-year-old Brayden Schenn on Long Island playing the role, “on the back nine” of his career, of a leading voice and mentor in the dressing room, while maintaining a high level of play in his own right.
“He recognizes he was brought in here as much for his intangibles as what he brings on the ice,” DeBoer said Thursday before the Islanders faced Carolina. “I think he understands that. I think he’s taken that piece of it and really embraced it.”
Indeed, as much as Schenn struggled last season upon arriving as the Islanders’ big-ticket acquisition at the trade deadline, one wonders if general manager Mathieu Darche is itching to find the nearest microphone and declare, “I told you so.”
Schenn not only has stepped seamlessly into a leadership role in the Islanders dressing room, he is centering a trio with Emil Heineman and Victor Eklund that’s been the club’s most consistent line of late.
The difference between walking in midseason when cracks were already starting to form in the Islanders foundation and getting to participate in building the foundation from training camp onwards has been massive. Schenn has four goals and five assists through 14 games, has fit like a glove in DeBoer’s system and when asked about all of this Thursday morning, sheepishly replied, “I hate talking about myself.”
That is, of course, exactly how the Islanders want their older, example-setting veterans to respond to such a question. Schenn did acquiesce to explaining the added comfort he has with the Islanders now, as opposed to when he arrived in March.
“I would say it’s just everything. It’s not one thing,” he said. “You can’t pinpoint one thing and say that’s why. I think it’s, one, coming here, gotta prove yourself every single day in this league. You get a great opportunity to play with great linemates. The organization and the guys in the locker room have been awesome to us since Day 1 we’ve been here. So as you get more comfortable around the room, being around people, it just allows you to be yourself a little more. I still feel like I got better.”
Knowing his teammates and having training camp to develop chemistry makes a huge difference, as has DeBoer’s presence behind the bench.
“I really enjoy playing for Pete. He’s a smart coach,” Schenn said. “I’ve learned a lot from him. Very good systematically, defensively. With a coach like that, as long as you’re bringing your effort within the system each night, he’s gonna reward the guys who want to do that. I think as a group, as a whole, we have a bunch of guys with complete buy-in who’ve realistically given ourselves a chance in every game.”
DeBoer took notice on a recent off day when he and the injured players were the only people at the facility. When DeBoer left, Schenn pulled in with his car.
“I’m sure he got his kids off to school and headed to the rink after that,” DeBoer said. “You can tell the guys who just love the process of it. He’s one of those guys.”
Indeed, DeBoer added that Schenn has the qualities of a future head coach. Heineman, his linemate, sounded similar notes.
“He [had been] been a captain [in St. Louis] for a long time. It shows on how he acts as a human being in the locker room and on the ice,” Heineman told The Post. “… You can tell right away he has a lot of experience in the league. He’s won [a Stanley Cup]. He knows what it takes.”
