Andrew Gross: Human side of the Islanders' swap of Jonathan Drouin for Brayden Schenn
St. Louis Blues left wing Jonathan Drouin controls the puck away from Ducks left wing Ross Johnston during the second period of an NHL hockey game on March 8, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. Credit: AP/Kyusung Gong
ST. LOUIS — The personal side of NHL trades can be understandably touching, heartwarming, confusing, sad or any other emotion relatable to real life. It’s fascinating — and somewhat unique — how Brayden Schenn and Jonathan Drouin did more than swap teams as the Islanders and Blues stayed at the same hotel in San Jose six days ago, the latter walking into the Blues’ meal room to meet his new teammates just as the former was exiting after saying his goodbyes.
They, of course, chatted about their intertwined paths and now Schenn is renting Drouin’s old apartment on Long Island. Meanwhile, Drouin now occupies Schenn’s former dressing room stall at Enterprise Center.
But the cutthroat bottom line is the Islanders’ on-going and far-from-guaranteed push for a playoff spot. That’s why Schenn is now an Islander and Drouin is now a Blue after just 55 games of a two-year, $8 million deal.
The Islanders, who concluded a four-game road trip on Tuesday night in Schenn’s immediate and emotional return to St. Louis, believe their better chance to qualify is with the former Blues captain centering their second line rather having Drouin on that trio’s wing struggling to score goals.
Drouin had just three along with 18 assists in his short Islanders’ tenure and had gone 38 games without a goal before scoring in his Blues’ debut on Sunday. Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said Drouin had simply lost his confidence. A reset was needed.
“It kind of stinks,” Drouin said before Tuesday’s match when asked to sum up his disappointing time on Long Island. “I had a good start to the season. I was producing, helping the team. I kind of hit a wall there, a little bit. But I only have good things to say about ([Islanders] management to all the coaches, same with the players. It was awesome. It’s a great group there.
“There’s a reason why we kind of surprised a lot of people this year, the way guys handle each other in the room and how tight the group is. I’m going to miss those guys. It was a fun little stretch there.”
But surprise at being traded?
“Anyone could get traded,” Drouin said. “Wayne Gretzky got traded.”
Twice, actually. Once to the Blues.
While Schenn is not an elite offensive producer — he brought 12 goals and 16 assists in 62 games into Tuesday’s match — he is an upgrade from Drouin given his talent in the faceoff circle, his physicality and, yes, the confidence with which he plays.
“[Drouin] played really well for us,” coach Patrick Roy said. “He probably wanted to score more goals than he did. He was doing a really nice job five-on-five, making plays and defending really well for us. But, hey, this is the business, isn’t it? Sometimes you’ve got to give something to get something. And we got a great leader. We got a player that plays center. I thought that was something we needed. He won the Stanley Cup [in 2019 with the Blues].”
Drouin never showed his frustration off the ice despite his goal-scoring woes.
He had dinner with some of his former teammates on Monday night and took time to come to the bench and greet others during the Islanders’ optional morning skate on Tuesday.
“He was such an upbeat, positive guy,” fourth-liner Marc Gatcomb said. “So if he was down on himself, he didn’t want other people to know. That shows his character. He doesn’t want it to go into other people. At the end of the day, sometimes that stuff can creep into other people.”
But after Tuesday, Drouin will be in the Islanders’ rear-view mirror and Schenn will begin his acclimation to being an Islander in earnest.
Doing that in-season is never an easy task.
“It’s all weird, you’re not used to systems, to the players, the routine,” said Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who played seven games for the Islanders after being acquired from the Senators on Feb. 24, 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the rest of the NHL’s regular season. “I was having dinner yesterday with Dru and the first thing he told me, which brought me back to when I first got traded, was, ‘I was in warmups and I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way.’”
“It’s tough,” said Bo Horvat, acquired from the Canucks on Jan. 30, 2023. “Especially with a family, kind of uprooting your life and taking your family somewhere new. I only had two kids and [Schenn] has got three. It’s up to us, as his teammates, to make him feel comfortable, make him feel welcome.”
There are relatable, human elements to all of this. But all that matters is how the Islanders handle their playoff push.
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.
