Maple Leafs Cornerstone Emerges: Luke Schenn Puts Sophomore Slump Behind Him

March 29th, 2011 by Jon Neely Leave a reply »
It was just a year ago, but for Luke Schenn, last season probably feels like a lifetime ago. Especially on the ice.

Rolling into his sophomore season after an impressive rookie campaign, expectations were high, and for Toronto's fifth-overall pick in the 2008 Entry Draft, that meant high expectations piled on top of previously towering ones. 

And as the story usually goes for Leafs in his situation, well, it didn't go well. 

In his first year, he had confidence, patience, physicality and best of all, he had his coach's trust. He played over 20 minutes 50 of the 70 games, which for a first-year defenseman, is a big deal. Especially when he's of the stay-at-home variety, and not simply pinching in a potting a few goals to keep the fans happy. 

In his sophomore season, it seemed like Schenn either expected too much out of himself, or tried way to hard to be something he wasn't. He lost the confidence that got him to where he was in the first place. He lacked patience and mistakes that he should have been making the year prior, and in trying to be physical, he often put himself out of position. It looked like after taking a ...

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