Schenn in 'wait and see' mode but hopes to extend his time with Maple Leafs

Luke Schenn knows there’s a lot up in the air with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the moment. But when the dust settles, the pending unrestricted free agent defenceman is hopeful of extending his time with the team he began his career with.

Schenn joined TSN 1050’s First Up with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo on Friday and said he enjoyed his second go-around with the Maple Leafs this spring.

“Honestly, it’s been a little bit just conversations towards the end of the year. And then, in the last week and a half obviously. Things have kind of risen, I guess, on the Leafs side of things of what they’re dealing with,” Schenn said.

“So, we’re just going to wait and see, obviously they’ve got to sort through some things on their end and I think there’s probably lots of conversations and phone calls that they’re having to kind of, like I said, get organized on the management side now.”

The Leafs announced last week that Kyle Dubas will not return as general manager next season. TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported on Tuesday's edition of Insider Trading that the team is eyeing an experienced GM and Dreger also reported they have spoken with Brad Treliving, formerly of the Calgary Flames.

Schenn, 33, finished last season with the Leafs after he was acquired by Dubas from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a draft pick on Feb. 28.

The 6-foot-2 defenceman had four goals and 22 points in 70 games split between the Maple Leafs and Canucks. He also added an assist in 11 playoff games before the Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in five games during the second round.

Schenn played with the Leafs from 2008 to 2012 and said one day returning to Toronto was something he thought of, but he wasn’t sure if he’d get the chance. Now that he has, he wants it to last longer than just the tail end of last season.

“Looking back, I have great memories of it even though there were some ups and downs and I was a little bit naïve to the whole situation and I always thought what it might be like to get another chance to go back thinking it probably wouldn’t even be a reality and all of a sudden it comes true and I enjoyed it a ton this time. But yeah, we’ll see how things shake out here in the next few weeks I guess. It’s definitely something I’d enjoy doing is to come back, for sure," Schenn said.

The Saskatoon native is coming off a two-year, $1.7 million contract he signed with the Canucks in July of 2021.