The Nashville Predators are signing veteran defenseman Luke Schenn to a three-year deal worth $2.75M per season, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
This is a major coup for the 33-year-old, who has secured a massive pay raise from the $850K he earned this past season. He’s now secured a quality annual paycheck for three seasons where he’ll be in his mid-30s, a rarity for defensive defensemen like Schenn.
He’s certainly earned the raise, though, as he’s had a career renaissance over the past few seasons. In 2018-19 Schenn played in the AHL for the first time in his career, actually skating more games in the American League than the NHL. But after signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning Schenn re-emerged as an NHL depth defenseman, even playing a cameo role on two Stanley Cup-winning teams.
That earned him a more regular job on the Vancouver Canucks blueline, where he re-established himself as a physical, defensively competent defenseman. His ice time jumped up to over 17 minutes a night, and he was eventually dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs for their playoff push.
In Nashville, Schenn will be a relied-upon defensive defenseman who should be a regular face on their penalty kill. While it’s certainly a risk for a team to hand this kind of term to a player like Schenn at his age, Nashville has certainly upgraded its defense at least in the immediate term and did not pay an exorbitant cost to do so.
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