Kings’ Brayden Schenn probably won’t play against Panthers – latimes.com
Schenn, 19, rejoined the club Monday after a two-week conditioning assignment with the Manchester (N.H.) Monarchs of the American Hockey League and Wednesday practiced on the penalty-killing unit. He has appeared in eight games with the Kings and would not be eligible to return to his junior team if he appears in a 10th — leaving him one game before the club has to decide his fate.
But the Kings have lost seven of their last eight and that, Murray said, puts undue pressure on Schenn.
I would be willing to bet that most Kings fans who read this news in the Los Angeles Times have already read it on Rich Hammond’s blog (www.lakingsinsider.com, but you knew that). Although I would have less of a problem with the LAT repackaging other people’s work and calling it news if the LAT didn’t feel the need to include the added value of false information.
It’s not that he’s ineligible to return to the WHL once he plays in his 10th NHL game. It’s that, once he plays in his 10th game, his NHL entry level contract kicks in. He can still be returned to juniors — he can be returned at any time. Also, not that it’s all that meaningful, but once he plays his 11th game, his ELC counts against the 50 Contract Limit. Players who sign ELCs at 18 or 19 but continue to play in junior do not count against the limit until they have played their 11th game. By my (possibly flawed) count, the Kings currently have 47 contracts, two of which — Schenn and Johan Fransson (on loan to the KHL) — don’t count.
When I was a kid, we had three channels and one of them (NBC) sometimes had a hockey game on once a week. I read the newspaper in the morning to find out what happened the night before and what it meant. About two inches of copy per game. Now, newspapers seem intent on being the 3rd or 5th or 10th link in a (by internet standards) very slow game of telephone. At least they didn’t go for, “A Kings source says…”