Schenn 'proud' of hard journey to 1,000 career NHL games
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Nashville Predators defenceman Luke Schenn was honoured in a celebration Saturday for reaching the 1,000 career NHL game mark, with the blueliner becoming the 398th player in league history to reach the milestone.
The pre-game ceremony featured a video tribute highlighting select moments from Schenn’s 17-season career, messages from past teammates, and the 34-year-old being gifted a silver stick from general manager Barry Trotz.
The Saskatoon, Sask. native gave his friends and family in attendance further reason to celebrate after he scored the first goal of the evening in what would be Nashville’s fifth-straight loss to begin the season.
Schenn’s journey to 1,000 games has not quite followed the ideal career path for a former top-five draft pick, with the veteran defenceman having cleared waivers twice and spending time in the American Hockey League with three different teams.
“There has been a lot of challenging moments throughout my career,” said Schenn on TSN1050’s First Up on Monday morning. “Proud to get the number and the milestone, but it’s just a number, I guess. That’s not the most special part.
“Looking back, finding a way to kind of get out of some tough times is maybe what I’m most proud of,” he said. “There have been some times when I’ve kind of been down and out, and just kept believing and trying to find a way to get back.
“I mentioned to guys on the team, had a little moment there, where I said I wasn’t so much even looking to get to 1,000 games. I was really trying to claw back and figure out how I’d get just one more game.”
Schenn is a former fifth-overall section of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and has played on eight different teams over the course of his lengthy career, including two stints with Toronto and the Vancouver Canucks.
After appearing in 35 AHL games from 2018-20, the veteran blueliner would enjoy a career resurgence with the Tampa Bay Lightning, winning two Stanley Cups in back-to-back seasons from 2020-21.
Across those playoff runs with Tampa Bay, Schenn appeared in 19 games and recorded one goal and two assists, with 54 hits and 22 blocked shots.
The turning point of Schenn's career came shortly after he began working with Hockey Hall of Famer Adam Oates while he was playing in the minors during the 2019 season.
“[Oates] helped me change some things, work on some things,” he said. “Not re-invent, but I think, evolve, just as far as the game has changed. I had to work on, clearly, a few things.
“I think the biggest thing is if you believe in it, and want it bad enough, and don’t take no for an answer, then you’ll find a way.”
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound skater is in the second season of a three-year, $8.25 million contract signed with the Predators as a free agent back in 2023. The deal is both the longest and richest contract he’s earned since his five-year extension with the Maple Leafs back in 2011.
The celebrations are expected to continue in the Schenn family, as Luke’s brother, Brayden, currently sits at 946 games for his career through the first five contests of the 2024 season. If Brayden were to accomplish the feat, they would become just the 10th pair of brothers to each play in 1,000 career games at the NHL level.