Now that Luke Schenn has finally settled into Toronto, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that his former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate, Tomas Kaberle, was his new neighbor.
"He actually texted me, I had his old phone number and didn't recognize it at first, I hadn't talked to him in a while and it said 'Hey it's Kabby, I heard we're neighbors'" Schenn said.
Kaberle and Schenn were teammates for Luke's first three seasons in the NHL while with the Maple Leafs. He called Tomas a mentor to him as he got himself adjusted to the NHL.
"He taught me a lot and was a true pro," Schenn said of Kaberle. "Here is now taking care of me too and showing me the lay of the land."
The Maple Leafs re-acquired Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2023 and since that time the player has seen his world collide with different glimpses of his past when he first joined the Maple Leafs as fifth overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft.
When he first stepped into Scotiabank Arena for the first time since the deal, the first person he saw was another former Leafs teammate, Nik Antropov, who is a skating consultant with the Leafs. When he made his Leafs re-debut in Calgary, there were only two members of the staff still around from his first go-around with the Leafs: Bobby Hastings, and equipment manager who has since been promoted to Head Equipment Manager, and Tom Blatchford an assistant equipment manager with the club.
There are two things that Schenn has yet to experience in his second go-around with Toronto. The first one is a playoff run. The Leafs punched their ticket to the dance earlier this week. The second is wearing the home blue jersey.
Schenn will dress in his second home game since rejoining the club, but for the second consecutive home game, Toronto will not be wearing their regular home jersey.
On Mar. 17, the team wore their alternate St. Pats green and white jersey in Schenn's first game at home. On Wednesday, the Maple Leaf will wear their black flipside jerseys, an ongoing cross-promotion with superstar singer and Ontario native Justin Bieber.
"I was saying what's a guy got to do to wear a blue jersey around here," Schenn joked."Breaking in new gear here, new gloves, new pants. Sooner or later I'll get the chance to wear it again."
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