Early in the afternoon on Sept. 19, the St. Louis Blues tapped former Philadelphia Flyers center Brayden Schenn to be the franchise’s 24th captain. In addition, defensemen Justin Faulk and Colton Parayko were named alternate captains alongside star forward Robert Thomas.
Schenn, 32, was drafted fifth overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2009 NHL Draft, but made his name with the Flyers after being traded to them, alongside Wayne Simmonds, for Mike Richards on June 23, 2011. Schenn spent six seasons in the Flyers’ organization before being traded to the Blues for Jori Lehtera and two first-round picks that became Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost.
From 2012 to 2015, Brayden played for Philly alongside older brother Luke Schenn, but the latter was traded to the Kings during the 2015-16 season. And, while Frost and Farabee are both fine players, Flyers fans probably regret missing out on some of Brayden’s best years as an NHLer.
Since joining the Blues, Schenn has played one more regular season game with them (425) than with the Flyers (424), but scored 341 points compared to the 246 he compiled with Philadelphia. The 32-year-old posted a 70-point campaign in 2017-18 and won the Stanley Cup with the Blues the following year centering one of their top-two lines.
Flyers still without a captain
On the flip side, the Flyers are still without a captain after trading Claude Giroux in 2022. The team played all of the 2022-23 season without one, and don’t seem intent on naming one for this season either. Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton would be logical candidates, but there’s been radio silence on that front.
GM Danny Briere seems focused on rebuilding the on-ice product rather than worrying about locker room politics, and for now, that’s perfectly okay. Everyone on the team knows that players like Couturier, Laughton, Cam Atkinson, and some others are the leaders and the go-to guys. At the end of the day, there doesn’t necessarily need to be one captain above the rest.