ST. LOUIS -- This was the natural choice.
The St. Louis Blues named the 24th captain in their history on Tuesday and they kept with the veteran theme of recent past and gave the 'C' to forward Brayden Schenn, who has been with the Blues since 2017.
The 32-year-old replaces Ryan O'Reilly, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 17.
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Schenn was introduced at a press conference with general manager Doug Armstrong and coach Craig Berube, who also coached Schenn with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Joining Schenn on the leadership team are forward Robert Thomas, who was believed to be in serious consideration for the captaincy as well, and defensemen Colton Parayko and Justin Faulk.
"This is a pretty special day," Schenn said. "Standing up here being the captain of the St. Louis Blues, is something I'll remember forever, but I'll remember you guys (teammates) showing up for me means a lot. These are the guys that I come to battle (with) and work every day and enjoy being at the rink with them. Thanks to Mr. [Tom] Stillman and the ownership team, Doug managing the team and 'Chief' and the coaching staff for believing in me and the leaders we have on the team as well with Justin, Colton and Robert that we are the guys to get this team in the right direction. We'll lean on each other and keep pushing forward in the right direction."
Schenn, who has five years remaining on his current contract, at $6.5 million average annual value per season, defines what it's meant to be a Blue. He's a Stanley Cup champion (2019), always was one to lay it on the ice game in, game out and always carried an important voice in the room, in good times or bad.
And it's what Armstrong said Schenn embodies.
"Yes he does. I think the experience of been there, done that, we are transitioning and having someone in our group that was the fifth overall pick, that has played on a couple of organizations," Armstrong said. "There's not much that he hasn't seen that he can't share with the group. Also his persona on the ice is St. Louis original and that's something that we want to continue with. But the process started, talking to a lot of different people in our organization, outside the organization in different sports on leadership, on leadership by committee, what it took.
"I just kept coming back to experience, transitioning into a new era. When I got to the criteria that was most important to this team moving forward, 'Schenner' was the natural option. These decisions aren't made in a vacuum. I had a lot of different people giving me input in place, great support from ownership, Mr. [Tom] Stillman and his group asking me the questions that went into the decision and then supporting the decision."
Berube, who coached Schenn previously with the Flyers from 2013-15, said at his exit meeting after last season a captain needs to work hard and lead by example on and off the ice.
"First of all, I think a captain is important for sure," Berube said. "It completes your team in my opinion. This team is hungry to prove themselves this year and going forward. We still have a lot of veterans on our team. We're still in the winning business here. I think having a captain is important in terms of that.
"Brayden has experience for sure, great character, toughness. He's been a Blue here for five, six years now. He's learned from five different captains that he talked about and saw how things were done, he's won, he leads by example. His teammates are here supporting him. That's a good sign right there in my opinion that they're here to show the support. I think Brayden does everything the right way on and off the ice. Off the ice, you don't see all the little things he does, the work he puts in every day on the ice, off the ice, how he treats his teammates and supports his teammates and helps his teammates. On the ice, you guys see what he does. He brings toughness, he brings scoring, he brings all the intangibles that go into a captain."
Schenn, who had 65 points (21 goals, 44 assists) in 82 regular-season games last season, joins a group of Blues captains that includes the aforementioned O'Reilly and Pietrangelo, Brett Hull, Wayne Gretzky, Brian Sutter, Bob Plager, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis and David Backes.
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"The St. Louis Blues is a pretty historic franchise with many great leaders," Schenn said. "If you look at the list of guys being captain of the St. Louis Blues before with the Plager brothers to Bernie Federko, the kind of era I grew up watching with Gretzky, Hull, Pronger, MacInnis. To be in history with the St. Louis Blues of being a captain with those guys is pretty special and a tremendous honor and I'm excited for that opportunity and challenge. Most recently with 'Petro' and Ryan O' Reilly. I learned a ton from those guys. Those guys were were great leaders, different leaders.
"Just from my experiences, I'm just going to try and lean on that and on my 13 years out of playing and move this team in the right direction. I see the team and the whole organization to hold ourselves to a high standard. We have a vision for this team. We feel we have goals that we are going to shoot for this year. Everyone's hungry and ready to go this year and there's a good energy in our locker room right now. I know camp hasn't started, but there's a good excitement and we're looking forward to this upcoming season."
