Luke Schenn (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)
If you’re a parent, which is worse: having to choose between your boys’ NHL playoff series, or watching them square off against each other?
Jeff and Rita Schenn are finding out, as their sons Luke and Brayden Schenn battle it out in the first-round playoff series between the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues.
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After the Blues chased Connor Hellebuyck twice in St. Louis and recorded a pair of wins, the series is all square at 2-2. Game 5 goes Wednesday, back in Winnipeg (9:30 p.m. ET).
Born less than two years apart, Luke and Brayden both hit the 1,000-game milestone this season – just the eighth set of brothers in NHL history to get the silver stick honor.
Now into their 30s, they were both fifth-overall draft picks who have become Stanley Cup champions.
Luke Schenn, the defenseman, went first to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008. He won his Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021. Brayden Schenn, the center, went to the Los Angeles Kings one year later. His Cup came in his second season with the Blues, in 2019, and he became the team’s captain in 2023.
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Two months ago, Jeff and Rita were probably mapping out very different plans for this time of year. At the February break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Luke’s Nashville Predators were mired in 30th place in the NHL standings, and Brayden’s Blues were below .500 – eight points out of a Western Conference wild-card spot.
Leading up to the March 7 NHL trade deadline, Brayden Schenn was rumored to be available, but the asking price would be sky high. There was even some chatter that perhaps the brothers could be a package deal for the right organization.
On March 5, Luke was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two days later, his seventh playoff run became a near-certainty when he was flipped onto the league-leading Jets.
As for Brayden Schenn, he stayed put after the Blues went 5-1-1 out of the break.
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“I give the guys a ton of credit, GM Doug Armstrong told reporters on deadline day. “The players tell us what we’re supposed to do, and to their credit, they’ve really played fantastic hockey right now.”
Given the Blues’ baked-in, never-say-die mentality, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they were able to level the series on home ice after dropping the first two games in Winnipeg. So far, Jordan Binnington’s nine goals against and .907 save percentage are easily besting Vezina favorite Hellebuyck. He has given up 15 goals, sits at .817, and was pulled in the third period of Game 3 and Game 4 – but remains unfazed.
“You don’t love giving up that many goals, but we’re 2-2 in the series,” Hellebuyck said Monday. “That’s all that matters. Win the next one. Am I going to be better? I am going to be better.”
The Schenn brothers have also played noticeable roles in the playoffs.
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Luke has been providing steady third-pair minutes and plenty of muscle, just as coach Scott Arniel would have hoped. Averaging 16:00 a game, he leads the Jets with 20 hits and, thanks to 10-minute misconducts in both Game 1 and Game 4, leads the entire playoffs with 30 penalty minutes.
The 35-year-old also picked up an assist in the Jets’ 5-3 series-opening win. And even though he finished at minus-2 in Game 3 and Game 4, the Jets have dominated play when he has been on the ice, controlling over 55 percent of expected goals at 5-on-5 according to naturalstattrick.com.
As for Brayden, he picked up his first points of the series in Game 4, with a goal and an assist in the Blues’ 5-1 win. He’s centering a high-octane line with Jake Neighbours and Jordan Kyrou, averaging 16:31 a game, and also has two misconducts already – from Game 1 and Game 3.
For the series, Brayden’s advanced stats aren’t great, with an expected goals share of 43.34 percent. But he was much better on home ice, at 55.70 percent.
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Per the NHL, the Schenns are the sixth set of brothers to go head-to-head in a playoff series in the last 20 years. We saw it last season, too, when Ryan Lindgren’s New York Rangers swept Charlie Lindgren’s Washington Capitals in Round 1.
In the past, we’ve seen some parents try to Frankenstein jerseys together to show their loyalty. Mr. and Mrs. Schenn prefer to just blend into the crowd.
“I think they’ll be pretty neutral,” Luke Schenn said. “They’re not going to be wearing jerseys. I don’t see them ever wearing a jersey to the games.”
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