Philadelphia Flyers: A Look Back at Scouting Reports

Another week, another dose of retrospection. At this point I’m sure you’re all caught up, but for those who aren’t:

Week 1 — Couturier, Del Zotto, Gagner
Week 2 — Giroux, Gudas, Lecavalier
Week 3 — MacDonald, Mason, Neuvirth

It feels like this week should be starting off with Michael Raffl, but since he hasn’t yet played three NHL seasons (which surprised me; feels like he’s been a part of the team much longer), we’ll get the ball rolling with Matt Read. Also joining him will be the Schenn Bros.

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Read

Drafted: Undrafted (signed by the Flyers as a free agent in 2011)
Career NHL stats: 65 goals, 76 assists, 141 points in 276 games
Scouting reports:

From The Hockey News:

Assets: Is exceptionally versatile, able to play all three forward positions. Has great wheels, excellent instincts and plenty of two-way acumen. Will go to the net with gumption to score goals.Flaws: Does not own ideal size for the National Hockey League game, so his energetic style may not be ideally suited for longevity. Injuries and inconsistency are also factors here.Career Potential: Versatile, speedy two-way forward with a little upside.

From RotoRob:

This undersized (5’10”, 185) forward just seems to understand all the responsibilities of each forward position and thrives equally well in each. Read’s vision, passing and penalty killing all look very sound. His finish needs work but his passing should buy him enough time to work on that. The kid just has a lot of promise and embodies the qualities which GMs like to call an “honest player.” Read looks like a keeper.

Verdict: Unsurprisingly, scouting reports on an undrafted college player (from Bemidji State, no less) are difficult to find. What’s also difficult, then, is discerning what exactly we can expect a player like that to bring to a team. Maybe there are no expectations, and you simply keep them low as to not be disappointed if the player doesn’t live up to them.

Brayden Schenn

Drafted: 5th overall, 2009 (Los Angeles Kings)
Career NHL stats: 58 goals, 76 assists, 134 points in 274 games
Scouting reports:

From The Hockey News:

Assets: Has good speed and hockey instincts, scoring and playmaking ability, a highly-developed defensive conscience and sneaky-fast wrister. Leads by example. Is feisty and ultra-competitive, and will never back down.Flaws: Needs to get stronger to better handle the top big defenders in the NHL. Also needs to improve his consistency in order to maximize his vast upside. Must also avoid injuries, which might not be easy due to his all-out style.Career Potential: Talented scoring forward with good upside.

From The Hockey Writers’ Christopher Ralph:

The talented and enthusiastic two-way forward is the younger brother of the Leafs’ Luke. He plays even bigger than his size suggests. He possesses excellent leadership qualities as well. He’s likely the second most complete forward in the draft after Matt Duchene. While it is way too soon to say the younger Schenn is the next coming of Mike Richards, scouts and GMs alike will not want to let a player with similar potential slip as they did in Richards draft year.

From NHL Director of Central Scouting EJ McGuire:

Brayden is of the power-forward ilk. He has learned a little about the NHL from his older brother Luke Schenn and he knows how to go to the net. He is a threat to score at all times on the ice and dishes the puck very effectively to his linemates in getting the amount of assists that he does. He takes the puck to the net with the kind of authority that a Jonathan Cheechoo does, yet has puck dishing capacities that maybe a Joe Thornton does. Both are tough players, both are tough to move out in front of the net and Brayden fits that ilk perfectly.

Verdict: The jury is still out on the younger Schenn. Defending Big D, which linked to McGuire’s scouting report, called him a “future number one center for whichever club drafts him.” If that’s his true potential, he has yet to reach it.

Even the staff writers here are torn on B. Schenn. Denise took an optimistic view of Schenn and wrote that he’ll reach his potential this upcoming season, while Marc argued the opposite on Monday.

But it’s hard to pin Brayden’s supposed lack of success on any one factor. He’s played outside his natural position quite often for the Flyers, and on the team’s top three lines, often seeming like a shoe-in winger on a line whose chemistry isn’t 100% there. Maybe that’s the fault of the coaching staff, but there’s an argument to be made when looking back at those scouting reports. He’s touted as the “second most complete forward” in his draft year — shouldn’t such a complete player be able to play on any line, even out of position, and find success?

The 2015-2016 season will be huge for Brayden. He’s due for a new contract next summer, and if he doesn’t quite get the numbers Hexy & Co. are looking for, his time in Philadelphia may be winding down.

Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Luke Schenn

Drafted: 5th overall, 2008 (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Career NHL stats: 24 goals, 88 assists, 112 points in 494 games
Scouting reports:

From The Hockey News:

Assets: Has excellent shutdown ability and leadership qualities. Is steady, bull-like strong and takes the man with aplomb. Loves to hit and block shots. Strong positionally, he has the mobility to recover when beat. Makes a solid first pass.Flaws: Has a heavy blast from the point, but he doesn’t possess great offensive instincts, which limit his ability to put up points consistently at the National Hockey League level. Puts himself out of position from time to time.Career Potential: Big shutdown defenseman with some upside.

From Red Line Report’s Kyle Woodlief:

Schenn is easily the best shutdown rearguard to come along this season, and possibly even since Adam Foote was drafted 19 years ago. His strengths are intelligence, physicality, an ability to instinctively read game situations and a calm presence on the blue line.

From TSN’s Bob McKenzie:

What the scouts really like about this guy is that he knows that he’s not a great offensive defenceman. He knows his limitations. He knows that he’s a defence-first guy and he doesn’t try to do too much with the puck. But what he does do with the puck is highly efficient. He makes the first pass. This guy did not have a single point in the World Junior Championship and was arguably one of the best players on the ice from start to finish in that tournament. He led Canada in plus/minus, he was a plus-five at the World Junior. This is a guy who knows his job and knows how to do it, and you’re right. He’s physically punishing, a shutdown defenceman, mean and nasty.

Verdict: Like his younger brother, Luke Schenn hasn’t quite lived up to what was expected of him. When he was drafted, Pierre McGuire said “you build teams around defensemen like [Schenn].” A bit of hyperbole for sure, but it’s clear Toronto expected Schenn to be much more than what he turned out to be.

That’s not to say Luke has been bad; he hasn’t. Even though he saw the press box a few times last season, he put up decent numbers and had himself a pretty decent year. In case you don’t read that link, Meltzer sums up Schenn’s issues quite nicely:

The worst thing that ever happened to Luke Schenn was The Hockey News dubbing him ‘the next Adam Foote’ in his draft year and the Toronto Maple Leafs rushing him directly to the NHL at age 18 after making him the fifth overall pick of the 2008 NHL Draft. The pressure and expectations were inflated to unrealistic levels and he was subjected to excessive scrutiny and criticism. Being traded to Philadelphia straight up for James van Riemsdyk was also not very helpful to Schenn’s career. He went from one heavy-scrutiny situation into another, plus it was a deal the Flyers could never hope to ‘win’ from a statistical standpoint.

When I did my verdict on Andrew MacDonald last week, I said he wasn’t good enough to justify his contract. I think the same applies to Schenn, only measured in what we gave up rather than what he’s worth salary-wise. Knowing what we know now, would it still be in the Flyers’ best interest to swap JVR for Luke Schenn?

Next: Top 10 Prospects in the Organization

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