St. Louis captain, players understand change is inevitable with NHL Trade Deadline looming on Friday
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Brayden Schenn is not naive. The St. Louis Blues captain has been through these multiple times.
The only difference this time, though, is that the 34-year-old, since signing his eight-year, $52 million contract ($6.5 million average annual value) on Oct. 4, 2019 – months after winning the Stanley Cup here – doesn’t have a say if he stays or goes.
Schenn’s contract stipulated a full no-trade clause for the first five years but starting this season, dropped to a 15-team no trade.
“It's an uneasy time for everyone, especially the position we've put ourselves in,” Schenn said after practice on Tuesday prior to the Blues departing for a three-game road trip, starting with the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday. “We obviously see names out there, but at the end of the day, you have a job to do and you come out, you practice hard, you play hard, you put your head down and you be a pro. That's what it boils down to. Some guys have full control, some guys have some control and some guys have none. But at the end of the day, it's part of the business. No one likes going through it. But we know what we signed up for.”
Schenn, the Blues’ captain who has been with the Blues since the 2017-18 season (ninth season), knows the situation for himself in regards to not having control of the situation leading into Friday.
“If you want to nail it down like that, sure,” Schenn said. “Last year I had full, this year, it’s half. Like I said, at the end of the day, there’s really not much you can do. You go out and you play and you play hard, you play for your teammates and the organization. Everyone knows the date. St. Louis has been an awesome place to play, I absolutely love playing here. It’s been the best thing for my career and that’s the way I look at it.”
There have been a number of names thrown into the rumor fire as far as the Blues are concerned, including defenseman Justin Faulk (15-team NTC), goalie Jordan Binnington (14-team NTC) and forwards Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich each with a full NTC, Pius Suter and Oskar Sundqvist (no NTC protection) among others. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has called the Blues’ play this season “embarrassing,” which lends to believe everything and anything is in play, even in his final few months as GM before heading upstairs for full-time president of hockey operations duties despite the affect it has on players’ lives.
“You definitely can’t ignore the human element of it,” Schenn said. “I will say it’s a little bit easier when you’re young. Whether you’re single and you have a girlfriend and you pack up, pack some suitcases and away you move. When you throw family involved and being here for a long time, obviously a lot goes through your head. At the end of the day, it’s not a fun time. I think we all know that, but it’s the business that we’re a part of. We have a job to do and until that day passes, you keep on working for one another.
“That’s when you mentally dig in and learn to become a pro. You can’t let distractions or rumors let your mind wander to other places. When you’re practicing or when you’re in the game, it almost feels like your happy place and you just have a job to do and you go out there and enjoy playing the game of hockey. I think you see when you’re around your teammates at the rink, whether it’s game or practice, it’s almost just easier to be around it because it’s guys that you enjoy being around, you have fun with them. That’s the way I look at it.”
It’s why coach Jim Montgomery conducted practice with a bit more leniency on Tuesday.
“I think as a coach, you can’t be too hard on … like there were mistakes made out there today that if they were made on another day, I would have stopped the drill and really talked to the people about it because there were some habits that were not as good as we would have liked at times today,” Montgomery said. “But you understand the human element. Sometimes peoples minds might be somewhere else, so you talk to them in between whistles while the other group is going instead of blowing it down and slowing down practice because you understand that you need to get through practice and you also understand the human element of it. Everybody knows it’s coming.”
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