Schenn named Blues captain, replaces O'Reilly

Brayden Schenn was named captain of the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old forward replaces Ryan O'Reilly, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 17.

"This is a pretty special day," Schenn said during a press conference Tuesday. "Standing up here being the captain of the St. Louis Blues, is something I'll remember forever."

Schenn is the 24th captain in Blues history and joins a list that includes Red Berenson, Bob and Barclay Plager, Bernie Federko, Brett Hull, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Alex Pietrangelo and Wayne Gretzky.

"The St. Louis Blues are a pretty historic franchise with many great leaders," Schenn said. "If you look at the list of guys being captain of the St. Louis Blues before with the Plager brothers to Bernie Federko, the kind of era I grew up watching with Gretzky, Hull, Pronger, MacInnis. To be in history with the St. Louis Blues of being a captain with those guys is pretty special and a tremendous honor and I'm excited for that opportunity and challenge.

"Most recently with 'Petro' and Ryan O' Reilly. I learned a ton from those guys. Those guys were were great leaders, different leaders. Just from my experiences, I'm just going to try and lean on that and on my 13 years of playing and move this team in the right direction. I see the team and the whole organization to hold ourselves to a high standard. We have a vision for this team. We feel we have goals that we are going to shoot for this year. Everyone's hungry and ready to go this year and there's a good energy in our locker room right now. I know camp hasn't started, but there's a good excitement and we're looking forward to this upcoming season."

Schenn, an alternate captain the previous three seasons, is entering his seventh season with the Blues after he was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on June 23, 2017. He had 65 points (21 goals, 44 assists) in 82 regular-season games last season and has 341 points (131 goals, 210 assists) in 425 games for St. Louis, including an NHL-best 70 points (28 goals, 42 assists) in 82 games in 2017-18, his first season with the team.

Schenn had 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 26 postseason games to help the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019.

In addition to Schenn, the press conference included coach Craig Berube and general manager Doug Armstrong, and was attended by the entire Blues roster.

"... I'll remember you guys showing up for me, it means a lot." Schenn said. "These are the guys that I come to battle (with) and work every day and enjoy being at the rink with them."

Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko and Robert Thomas were named assistant captains.

Schenn said he found out about the honor last week from general manager Doug Armstrong.

"I got a text on Wednesday afternoon. A long offseason and we were unsure of the direction of how things were going to happen, but I just met with him Friday morning," Schenn said. "The four of us that are going to be part of the leadership crew, we're excited for the opportunity and challenge of leaning on each other."

Selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the first round (No. 5) of the 2009 NHL Draft, Schenn has 589 points (240 goals, 349 assists) in 858 regular-season games for the Blues, Flyers and Kings, and 40 points (11 goals, 29 assists) in 75 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Armstrong said Schenn embodies everything a captain should be.

"I think the experience of been-there, done-that, we are transitioning and having someone in our group that was the fifth overall pick, that has played on a couple of organizations," Armstrong said. "There's not much that he hasn't seen that he can't share with the group. Also his persona on the ice is St. Louis original and that's something that we want to continue with.

"But the process started, talking to a lot of different people in our organization, outside the organization in different sports on leadership, on leadership by committee, what it took. I just kept coming back to experience, transitioning into a new era. When I got to the criteria that was most important to this team moving forward, 'Schenner' was the natural option. These decisions aren't made in a vacuum. I had a lot of different people giving me input in place, great support from ownership, Mr. Stillman and his group asking me the questions that went into the decision and then supporting the decision."

Schenn was the third player to be named captain this month after Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks (Sept. 11) and Adam Lowry of the Winnipeg Jets (Sept. 12). Brad Marchand was named Boston Bruins captain one day after Schenn received the honor.

"First of all, I think a captain is important for sure. It completes your team in my opinion." Berube said. "This team is hungry to prove themselves this year and going forward. We still have a lot of veterans on our team. We're still in the winning business here. I think having a captain is important in terms of that. Brayden has experience for sure, great character, toughness. He's been a Blue here for five, six years now.

"He's learned from five different captains that he talked about and saw how things were done, he's won, he leads by example. His teammates are here supporting him. That's a good sign right there in my opinion that they're here to show the support. I think Brayden does everything the right way on and off the ice. Off the ice, you don't see all the little things he does, the work he puts in every day on the ice, off the ice, how he treats his teammates and supports his teammates and helps his teammates. On the ice, you guys see what he does. He brings toughness, he brings scoring, he brings all the intangibles that go into a captain."

Six NHL teams are without a captain: the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken. The Blackhawks announced Tuesday they will not have a captain this season.