[TRADE] Lecavalier & L.Schenn to LA

[PenguinHunter]

Watch LA win the cup this year... and Lecavalier get 10 playoff points... and Schenn be a shutdown guy playing along side Doughty...

[Doug Glatt]

Doughty and McBain are the only R shooting D on the Kings (Greene is injured and a shell of his former self anyway)so I guess Schenn gives them another righty option. Schenn really looked like he was going to be a good player (a young Matt Greene, dare I say) his first few years with the Leafs. I honestly dont know enough about Schenn to speculate why his career went sideways, but as a Kings fan he is an awfully intriguing new toy on the back end.

[Rodgort]

Perhaps the Kings do not want to run away with the Pacific too much, so they got themselves two anchors to help hold them down a bit?

[Zorro]

Wow, LA must have really needed a "depth" dman..

Philly sure is paying a lot of players not to play for them.. Bryzgalov, Briere, MacDonald, Gagne, Lecavalier, and Schenn..

[Pengwin7]

I don't understand this trade.
Not sure why LA wants these guys... especially Vinny.
L.Schenn can be decent at times, but he's just a bottom-pairing D these days.

Nice move for the Flyers to clear spots for younger guys.
Medvedev has also been playing well enough to make Schenn expendable with Streit's return.

[Doug Glatt]

Was just looking at the D group for LA, and I can see a scenario where they think Schenn can get his game together and play on the 2nd pair. Schenn was a No. 5 draft pick and is only 26 years old. Doughty, Schenn and McBain are the only righty shooters on the blueline. I could see a Muzzin-Schenn pairing working out decently. It's not like Schenn's physical game isnt going to mesh with the Kings. Matt Greene is out for the year. Adding Lucic in the offseason and now Schenn makes the Kings a really nasty group to play against from a hitting standpoint. I think the Kings can literally hurt people, the playoffs will be interesting.

Vinny maybe plays 4th line C, he gets one more shot at a Cup if he can get himself together for a few months here at the end.

[ericdaoust]

Was just looking at the D group for LA, and I can see a scenario where they think Schenn can get his game together and play on the 2nd pair. Schenn was a No. 5 draft pick and is only 26 years old. Doughty, Schenn and McBain are the only righty shooters on the blueline. I could see a Muzzin-Schenn pairing working out decently. It's not like Schenn's physical game isnt going to mesh with the Kings. Matt Greene is out for the year. Adding Lucic in the offseason and now Schenn makes the Kings a really nasty group to play against from a hitting standpoint. I think the Kings can literally hurt people, the playoffs will be interesting.

If that's their reasoning on Schenn then I think they're flat-out wrong. They could have traded Weal + 3rd for an equivalent physical dman at some point without taking on Lecavalier. I hope they weren't being too cute trying to create a redemption story.

[Mr. Guru]

Schenn is so shit, even in LA. And he's a UFA.

LA obviously going for another run. Can't blame them.

[Doug Glatt]

Everyone (except me) really shit all over this deal and heckled the Kings for making it. But here we are 5 games later, and Vinny is making an impact. He has chipped in some scoring, his minutes are going up, and now we get to see him centering the 2nd line (!!!) with Carter and Pearson tonight. Not bad for a guy that was completely written off. Schenn is what he is, but he does free up his partner Martinez to play more offensively, and it is showing in his production lately. Meanwhile, Weal has been a healthy scratch for every game since the trade. Perhaps Vinny just needed to be on a team that isnt a complete fiasco to get his competitive juices flowing and start feeling like a real hockey player. Obviously there is along way to go but I have to say this deal is looking a lot better for the Kings than all of you thought it would.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=44760

[Axeman33]

Great to see Vinny finally making an impact. Just in time to finish his career!

[ericdaoust]

Vinny's been good so far but I just can't see it lasting.

[PatyOFurniture]

Another pp goal so far tonight!

[hockeymanG23]

Really nice to see Vinny fitting in with the Kings and having some fun, still glad to have him off the Flyers payroll too though.

[Pengwin7]

re: Lecavalier's apparent reinvigoration in LA.

The older guys, they still have their hockey smarts & hands when they age.
The one place they still CAN use these is on the PP - if the team gives them time there.

On the surface, Vinny has 4pts in 6gp with LA.
Sounds good right.
3G, 1A

The three goals are all PPG - each of last 3 games he has a PPG.
I mean, that's great, yes.
But Lecavalier has 10sog in 6gp... how many are on the PP? (I don't know)
But that's an unsustainable 30%+ shooting percentage.
[The DAL PPG was a bomb on net that came off weird, the ANA PPG actually looks like he whiffed on it, and the OTT PPG was right spot-right time on no look puck lucky to land on his tape.]

Even-strength:
0g,1a
Don't forget that 1pt per 6gp = 14pt pace for an 82gp season.


But... it's still working.
One bonus is that Jeff Carter had been really stagnant of late... and sometimes letting a center (Carter) shift to wing allows him to free-up his offensive game.
LA is so focused on being a solid defensive game that it can, at times, stifle the offense of their centers - as we've seen with Kopitar & Carter having stretches without offense.

To this impact of Vinny... his use on the PP actually shows signs of what Mike Richards could do if placed on the WAS PP..
Would it mean we could say "He's back!" about Richards... no... just that he got an opportunity on the PP.


Anyways - just some thoughts to temper expectations on Vinny.
PPP can often deceive us about where a player really is... PPP comes... it goes... it's not a dependable indicator of long-term player quality.

[bondon]

It's always kind of cool to see some life out of an aging veteran that has been all but written off. I honestly didn't even know he was still in the league until this trade lol.