Luke Schenn is back in Vancouver, and this one feels less like a transaction than a reunion with purpose.
The Canucks brought in the veteran defenceman on Wednesday for his third stint with the club, handing him a one-year deal worth $2.25 million US. At 36, Schenn arrives as a familiar, steadying presence for a young blue line, the kind of depth piece who can bring some edge while also helping set the tone in the room.
That matters for a team deep into a rebuild and still putting culture at the center of the plan. Schenn’s name carries weight in that conversation.
He led the NHL with 318 hits in 2022-23, and his reputation goes beyond the physical stuff. He’s the sort of player who’s expected to speak up, keep standards high and help hold things together when the season gets bumpy.
“I’m excited to come back,” Schenn said Wednesday via Zoom. “Vancouver to me has felt like home, and I’m super comfortable with the organization.
It’s not just place to put in another year in the NHL. I’m not going there and riding it out and collecting another paycheque.
I’m fired up.
“I care about what they’re doing with the rebuild, and I want to make things better. Culture is not one thing.
It’s practice habits and not taking short-cuts off the ice, in the gym, or in a game. It’s shift by shift.
No matter what the circumstances are, it’s not being negative when things go wrong. And it’s hating to lose.”
For Schenn, the return also comes with perspective. He’s now logged 1,122 career regular-season games, and this version of him is a far cry from the player who first came through Vancouver trying to prove he belonged.
His second run with the Canucks came with a different mission. This time, he says, the job is to pass along what he’s learned after moving through all kinds of NHL terrain.
“The first go-around I was just trying to get back and establish myself as an NHL player,” he recalled. “The second time, trying to win and still prove yourself.
This time, I understand the role to pass on my experience. I’ve been a high draft pick, traded, in the AHL, and the press box, and won the Cup.
I’ve been on winning teams and rebuilding teams.
“There’s a lot I can share. There are going to be bumps and bruises along the way, but you have to be positive and work with everyone.
A whirlwind of a career, and nothing I would have ever predicted. I’ve been resilient and stubborn when you get written off.
I still have something to prove.”
There’s also a clear line connecting Schenn’s path back to the Canucks and Ryan Johnson. Schenn said Johnson helped him get back into the NHL after he was traded from Anaheim and sent to Utica.
“RJ is part of why I got back in the NHL,” stressed Schenn. “I was traded from Anaheim and had to start in Utica.
RJ was incredible and in my corner and pushed to get me back in the NHL. Really respect him.”
The fit extends to the bench as well. Schenn knows Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra from playing against him and from having him as an assistant coach in Vancouver and Toronto.
“It was how hard he worked and competed,” said Schenn. “Super prepared, and a great communicator and easy to talk to.”
He also already has a built-in connection with Brendan Gallagher, another veteran added by the Canucks. The two skated and trained together in Kelowna in the offseason, and spent years bumping into each other as opponents.
“He has been texting me already and we know we can help out,” added Schenn. “(Gallagher) was always around the net and hard on pucks.
It was really, ‘Do I have to have a shift against him?’ Second and third efforts and he does a lot that guys can feed off.”
Schenn wasn’t the only player Vancouver added on Wednesday in its push for more size and bite. The Canucks also signed left winger Paul Cotter, 26, to a one-year deal worth $2.15 million.
The Michigan native stands 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds, and he brings a rugged game to the lineup after finishing second on the club with 192 hits. A fourth-round pick by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018, Cotter had 15 points, with nine goals and six assists, for the Devils last season.
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