Nick Kypreos

Nick Kypreos is a Stanley Cup champion and Hockeycentral analyst

Luke Schenn.

Ah, the healthy scratch.

There are few things more demeaning to a proud hockey player than being told your services will not be needed.

It’s one thing to be injured, but when you’re healthy and available and told you are going to sit anyway, there isn’t much that’s more crushing to your ego.

That’s why I feel for Luke Schenn.

Just over a year ago, Schenn was on cloud nine, cracking the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup on his very first try, and then averaging more than 21 minutes a night playing as a top four defenceman. Heck, guys like me, the Darcy Hordichuks and the Brandon Prusts of the world, know that being a healthy scratch is inevitable and part of being a hockey player, but it’s certainly not the norm for blue-chip, can't-miss prospects like Schenn.

When Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson pronounces Schenn as one of his top four defencemen coming out of training camp, and then sits him in the press box 10 weeks later, it’s a pretty big story.

Schenn isn’t your typical top prospect going through an expected funk, despite what Wilson is telling the media. While the easy part is ripping on what's wrong with Schenn’s game lately, the hard part is figuring out what he should do about it.

That’s why a guy like me is the perfect person to ask.

Who better to give advice on how to be a great healthy scratch without hurting your team than a guy who experienced it once or twice in his career? OK, more than three times, but that’s all I'm admitting to!

Here’s what Schenn should do:

1. Don’t mope. There’s nothing worse than coming to the rink every day and seeing a guy with a bad attitude dragging his lip all over the dressing room floor because he’s not playing. Do that and it instantly makes you the most selfish guy on the team. Think team first, you second, especially now that your team appears to have turned the corner on a dreadful start.

2. Don’t hide. The tendency is to get in and out of the dressing room as quickly as possible and to leave the regulars alone. Wrong. Be visual to your coaches and teammates. Be the first guy on the ice for practice, and the last to leave. And not just last to leave the practice ice, but last to leave the building, even during game nights when you’re not playing. Be seen on the bike, on a treadmill, in the weight room, it doesn’t matter. What matters is being seen as a guy getting ready for his next opportunity.

3. Make adjustments to your game. Don’t go back and make the same mistakes that got your ass in the press box in the first place. Make the necessary adjustments in practice to be better. In Schenn’s case, foot speed and reading the rush are two things he needs to work on the most.

4. Lastly, and most importantly for all healthy scratches, is to use that degrading feeling you got when you were first told about your ticket to the stands to fuel your fire. My first three suggestions don’t mean crap if being a healthy scratch doesn’t motivate you to never let it happen again. In Schenn’s case, he must turn his feeling of entitlement to a roster spot into one of fear and insecurity and never wanting to be that embarrassed ever again. So remember, healthy scratches, what doesn’t kill you out of sheer embarrassment will only make you stronger.