St. Louis Blues Still Reaping Rewards From Brayden Schenn Trade

The St. Louis Blues knew they had a fantastic player in Schenn when they traded for him. They might not have imagined how good he’d be though.

It was three years ago that the St. Louis Blues traded for Brayden Schenn. While the move was applauded at the time, few could have envisioned how big the trade would prove to be.

The Blues sent Jori Lehtera and two first-round picks. One pick was in 2017 and another was a conditional pick in 2018.

As far as the trade goes, the Blues clearly won it in the short term. They got a top center for the following season and a solid scorer that helped win a Stanley Cup.

Clearly, Philadelphia fans are still going to say they might have won since they got two big picks. The jury is still out on both Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, but they have some talent, that’s for sure.

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Frost had a large cup of coffee in the NHL in 2019-20, but only had seven points. Meanwhile Farabee scored eight goals and 21 points in 52 games. For comparison, a fellow 14th overall pick, Vladimir Tarasenko, had eight goals and 19 points in 38 points in his first season in the NHL.

We can debate who won the trade until we are blue in the face, no pun intended. However, what cannot be debated is how important Schenn has proven to be to the franchise.

All fans likely agree Schenn is one of the better forwards on the Blues currently. What we likely did not know is just how good he has been in the three years here.

Schenn wowed the crowd in his first season in St. Louis, which was 2017-18. He finished the year leading the team with 70 points and was second on the team in goals with 28.

Schenn’s stats cooled off after that, but only a little. He had 17 goals and 54 points in 2018-19 and 25 goals and 58 points in 71 games prior to 2019-20’s shutdown.

Some might point a finger to the 16 or 12 point drop from 2017-18. Nevertheless, Schenn has been as consistent as the team needed and more.

Since arriving in St. Louis in 2017, Schenn is actually the team’s biggest producer. As pointed out on 101 ESPN, Schenn has actually led the team in goals, assists, points, game winning goals, power play goals and hits.

It is worth mentioning that Tarasenko’s injury likely handed Schenn the goal’s lead, but it doesn’t take away from the achievement. To lead your team in all those categories over the last three seasons shows Schenn’s versatility and importance.

Schenn does not strike you as a vicious hitter, but he clearly takes the body to a tune of 384 regular season hits and 83 in the 2019 Stanley Cup run alone. You simply don’t expect that kind of physicality from a guy that regularly plays on the top line.

Schenn doesn’t wow you with sniping ability or make fancy plays to set up his teammates either. However, he’s getting the job done, either hitting the net or finding guys that will.

As Chris Kerber said on the Blues show on 101 ESPN, Schenn’s contract looks like pure value with how good he has been for this team. As regular fans, it’s hard to see $6.5 million as cheap, but given his consistency and ability to quietly lead the team, it’s a steal from what he might have gotten elsewhere.

Schenn’s continues presence also gives the team depth. While they have up and coming players that will eventually take over at center full time, like Robert Thomas, Schenn’s ability to play center or wing gives St. Louis options galore.

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We all knew the Blues made a really good trade three years ago. We just did not know it would turn out to be this good.

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