Andrew Gross: Brayden Schenn gets one more home experience in St. Louis, then it's all Islanders
New York Islanders center Brayden Schenn (10) collides with San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Credit: AP/Godofredo A. Vásquez
ST. LOUIS — Brayden Schenn drove to practice in his own car after spending the night with his wife and children in his own home. As he pulled into Enterprise Center, the former Blues captain saw a giant likeness of himself still on the arena wall.
Obviously, these are not normal occurrences for a visiting player.
But a visiting player is exactly what Schenn felt like as the Islanders practiced on Monday at his old home rink. And it’s how he will feel on Tuesday night when the Islanders conclude a four-game road trip against Schenn’s former team.
“It feels weird,” he said after Monday’s practice. “It really, really does. I haven’t been in this away locker room in 10 years.”
The key for Schenn and for the Islanders is how quickly he feels like a home player as he adjusts to Long Island after eight-plus seasons in St. Louis.
His assimilation to his new role as the Islanders’ second-line center and power-play contributor is crucial to their playoff push. It’s why general manager Mathieu Darche spent first- and third-round picks, goalie prospect Marcus Gidlof and Jonathan Drouin — who scored a goal in his first game with the Blues after going his last 38 games as an Islander without one — to acquire the 34-year-old Schenn on Friday.
There’s no telling what kind of emotions will be stirred for Schenn during Tuesday’s game. The Blues fans, for sure, will greet him loudly and warmly and give him a standing ovation during the tribute video to his tenure in St. Louis, which included lifting the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Schenn certainly couldn’t predict his reaction.
As context, overheard on this writer’s flight to St. Louis on Sunday was a man telling his friend that he would buy tickets for Tuesday’s game solely because he wanted to cheer for Schenn.
“The people care,” Schenn said of the fans in St. Louis. “The people show up. They come to root for you and cheer for you. If you give them a good effort, they’re all in on you.
“When you’re in the community, it’s funny, they say hello but they don’t want to bug you at the same time. They’re always on your side. They’re not a fan base where you’re at the grocery store or somewhere around the city and they’re talking about the previous game of what went wrong. They’re always talking about what you guys are trying to do right.”
OK, so that’s some low-hanging fruit, right? Not every fan base is like that.
Wait, wait, wait, that’s not a diss on Islanders fans. Schenn did spend six seasons playing in Philadelphia.
Schenn said the players’ perception, generally speaking, is that fans in the Midwest are different from the tougher East Coast fans.
He knows Islanders fans are passionate. It’s no secret that how the fan base ultimately reacts to Schenn will be directly tied to how he plays.
“[Players] think of the East Coast as not afraid to be hard on their teams,” Schenn said. “Playing in Philly, that was their reputation, right? They’re hard on their teams, they’re hard on their players, but they also root for their players. They want success just as much as the players want success, and they’ll let you hear it sometimes.
“The Islander fan base, they’re passionate fans. They love cheering for their team. It’s always tough playing on Long Island, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Beyond the convenience of being in St. Louis to help his wife begin packing — the Islanders are allowing Schenn to fly home on Wednesday separately from the team to give him an extra day — there’s also the hope that playing the Blues immediately can be a cut-the-cord moment for him.
It follows an odd pattern of all three of Darche’s in-season trade acquisitions, including ex-Ranger Carson Soucy and ex-Devil Ondrej Palat, quickly facing their former teams.
“It’s probably nice for him that he actually gets to come back to the city and pack up some things and get his life in order for down the stretch,” Soucy said. “Get the game out of the way and then we just focus on our games down the stretch.”
The sooner it’s not weird for Schenn, the better for the Islanders.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
