Schenn brothers cherish chance to square off against one another

Brayden is 32, Luke is 34, and both Saskatoon, Saskatchewan natives. The battles at times have been fierce, competitive and challenging, but at the end of the day, the close bond they share of a combined 31 years together of playing at the highest level of the NHL will add another chapter to store in the memory bank, and they are worth more the older they get and get closer to the end of the line.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," Brayden said. "The best part of the whole thing of the games is getting together the day before. We see each other in the summer time, but throughout the course of seven, eight months, more so watching each other, talking on the phone. When we get together and have dinner and for now, for him to come in and see my kids and vice versa, when I go into Nashville and see his kids, those are the moments that you look back on and we love.

"It's funny, his kids are little bit older than mine right now. Their favorite teams are the Predators and they like cheering for uncle Brayden too and my kids are a little bit younger and don't know that side of it yet. But one day they will. It's pretty cool to be able to play against each other."

Parents Jeff and Rita Schenn will be in attendance on Saturday and are already in town playing grandparents to Brayden's two sons, ages two and seven months. They do the same for Luke's three kids; two sons (six) and (three) and a daughter that is one.

"They're here. They don't miss a beat," Brayden said. "They're here watching every game. They absolutely love it. They cheer for both of us to play well and whoever wins, wins.

"They don't wear jerseys. Jeff just wears team swag right now. Whatever building he's in, he'll wear the Blues stuff here or when he goes to Nashville, it's all Nashville. That's just kind of how he goes. I think as a family, me and Luke, the more we get closer towards the end of our careers, the older we get, the more you cherish these moments."

Brayden, 32, and a center, and Luke, 34, a defenseman, each was a first-round draft pick. Luke was taken fifth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008, and then Brayden followed as -- yes! -- the fifth overall pick by the Los Angeles Kings, are as close as brothers can get.

And they were teammates with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013-16.

"We talk every day. It comes up. We watch each other's games," Brayden said. "There's lots of scoreboard watching, there's lots of talk whether it's about our teams, families or league-wide stuff happening. We talk every day and like checking in with a one another."

Luke signed a three-year, $8.25 million contract on July 1, 2023, so now the navigation of seeing one another is much closer and more battles were going to be on the schedule with being in the same division.

And Saturday is a huge tilt.

"You know what, we've had many battles, many challenges," Brayden said. "Always love playing him. On top of that, the intensity of the game's going to be there too. There's going to be fire in the building and fire to both he and myself. I'm looking forward to the test with Nashville."

So what happens if there's a chance for Brayden to line his brother up should a physical play present itself?

"It's your brother, so you play hard, you play to win, but you're not going to take a huge run at him," Brayden said. "Although he did (ruin) my room (as kids), so we'll see."

There's plenty of love, plenty of respect, but make no bones about it, there will be bragging rights on the line.

"Always, always," Brayden said. "Those games are fun to play (against) each other, you'll always look back and cherish those moments.

"I'm going to be honest, at the time of the game, I don't know if I love playing him. I love being in the game with him, but it's just I feel like you know when he's on the ice, I feel like you're watching him a little bit more than you'd watch other players around the league and stuff like that. We're very lucky and fortunate to play in the league as long as we have. We'll look back on these games playing with each other in Philadelphia and playing against each other as some of the best moments of our lives."