Breaking Down the JVR-Schenn Trade

Schenn (left) and van Riemsdyk (right) will swap jerseys this coming season

The Toronto Maple Leafs need a forward. The Philadelphia Flyers need a defenseman. Seems like perfect sense for these two to pair up and help each other out, right? If your answer were, “yes,” then you would indeed be correct.

Just around the hour of 5 p.m. this evening, these two Eastern Conference teams made a straight up swap that, much like the Jordan Staal trade last night, helps both teams out. Though in my opinion, one team makes off better than the other…for now.

The Flyers sent forward James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for defenseman Luke Schenn. Schenn’s brother Brayden, in an ironic twist, is also a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. I guess these days, all brothers are supposed to play with each other.

What this Means for Toronto

With this trade, Toronto gets bigger up front and in my opinion much better. Their star forwards Phil Kessel and Joffery Lupul had outstanding campaigns in 2011 but you can’t ever have enough guys like James van Riemsdyk who has proven he can be a solid player. [Insert stats from Philadelphia tenure here] I think Toronto is definitely a lot better than they were before this trade and right now I like this deal more for them. With a fresh start in Toronto, JVR can definitely flourish and have the chance to be as good, if not better than he was in The City of Brotherly Love. The only thing to ponder now with Toronto is do they snag Roberto Luongo from the Vancouver Canucks? Only time will tell .

What this Means for Philadelphia

There’s no doubt that Philadelphia had to do something about their ailing defensive unit. Chris Pronger’s concussion syndromes kept him out of the playoffs and their lack of depth led to their downfall, as evident by how poorly they played against the New Jersey Devils who bounced them from the Eastern Conference Semifinals. With Luke Schenn coming over from Toronto in this swap, they’ll get a big defenseman who carries with him across the border loads of untapped potential. He can some day become a lockdown defenseman but he has yet to achieve that and may not for a couple of seasons. This can definitely help the Flyers in the long-term, and personally I think it can and I can find a way to love this deal for them with Schenn’s upside. Short-term though, I do wonder since Luke does have some growing pains to get through.