Brayden Schenn, Flyers Agree to New Contract

The Philadelphia Flyers and foward Brayden Schenn have avoided arbitration and agreed to a four year contract. The contract is worth $20.5 million and has a $5.125 cap hit per season.

Schenn is entering his sixth season with the Flyers. He came to Philadelphia along with Wayne Simmonds from the Los Angeles Kings in the Mike Richards trade. In 80 games played last season he had 26 goals, 33 assists, 59 points and five game-winning goals. The 26 goals, 33 assists and 59 points were all career highs for the forward. The five game-winning goals were tied for first on the team. His 26 goals were ranked second on the team and his 59 points were third on the team last year.

In 44 games played from January 1 to the end of the regular season, Schenn had 44 points, which was tied for sixth among all NHL players. Schenn isn’t afraid to throw his weight around since he had 187 hits on the year. He played on the Flyers’ first power play unit, where he was the slot presence, and contributed 11 goals while on the man advantage. He can play either on the top line with Claude Giroux or on the second line with Sean Couturier. Schenn plays better when he is on the wing than when he is at center.

He is one of 10 forwards 25 or younger with at least 18 goals and 40 points in each of the past three seasons, according to hockeyreference.com.

In 345 games played with the Flyers, he has 84 goals, 107 assists, 191 points, 28 power play goals and 20 game-winning goals while averaging 16:03 of ice time per game. If he is needed at center because of injury then he need to improve on his faceoffs. He has a 44.5 face-off win percentage for his career with the Flyers. Schenn was better at the center position last season while Sean Couturier was out during the regular season.

In 354 career games played, Schenn has 84 goals, 109 assists, 193 points, and has averaged 15:56 of ice time per game. He was never really given a chance to play in Los Angeles, whom he was originally drafted by in 2009, which is why most of his career totals have come with the Flyers. In 24 playoff games, he has three goals, 11 assists, and 14 points while averaging 15:26 of ice time per game.

Schenn can either score or set up his teammates and he is verstatile since he can play all three forward postitions, if needed. The one down side of his game is that he can be inconsistent from game-to-game. If he wants to be a regular and get more ice time then he’ll need to have consistent effort and show up every game especially when the top players aren’t on their game.