Building from the backend

Some would say the Toronto Maple Leafs overpaid a bit to sign Luke Schenn. Others might suggest if the 21-year-old Saskatoon, Sask., native continues to develop as he has through three years of his young, big-league career, the Leafs will have a bargain by the end of the deal.

Schenn, a restricted free agent, came to terms with the Leafs late Thursday night agreeing to a five-year contract that pays him $18 million -- an annual salary cap hit of $3.6 million.

"Luke is a very important part of our team," said Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke. "In a hard cap system it is not simple to arrive at values. We intend to spend to the cap. We have not spent to the cap since I've been here because I didn't see the value in it.

"We talked about two-, three- and five-year deals. The only deal we didn't talk about was a four-year deal which would have walked Luke right to being unrestricted. Every stone was turned over in this negotiation. The key for Luke is to feel that he is being treated fairly. For us, we want to pay what's fair. We don't want to pay more than what's fair and it's not easy to arrive at that number. It doesn't mean the player is being greedy and it doesn't mean the team is being parsimonious. It's a case where you go through the process to get to the right number. It was a lengthy process, but I'm really happy where we are and I believe Luke is, too."

Indeed, Schenn was all smiles as he met with the media Friday morning at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence in Etobicoke. With the contract signed, Schenn said it's time to get down to the business of helping his team make the playoffs. The Leafs have missed the post-season the past six seasons and the pressure to make it this year is off the scales. He knows the expectations on him will rise; not just because of his contract, but because he's entering his fourth year.

"For the first three years on your entry-level contract you're not even close to hitting the peak of your career," Schenn said. "In the first three years you get more comfortable with how things go, not only playing in the NHL, but how you handle things away from the rink. Going forward I'll continue to learn and progress here. I'm still a young guy at 21 and I still have a lot to learn."

As for the playoffs?

"You get asked just about every day in Toronto if you're going to make the playoffs," Schenn said, "and there's no question we all want to be in the playoffs. We're sick of watching it every year on TV. Everybody talks about how long the playoff drought has been in Toronto, but in fairness, we have a bunch of new faces and it's not fare to look too far back into the past because most of the guys haven't been here for longer than two years. We're definitely on the right track. Since I've been here this is definitely the most competitive we have been. We ended well last year and we have a lot of guys coming back."

Schenn surprised a lot of people when he made it to the NHL as an 18-year-old. He was decent as a first-year pro, but the expectations for him in Year 2 were very high and his play suffered. Last year, however, he settled in nicely to being a solid defensive player with a bit of an offensive flair. Schenn led all NHL defencemen with 251 hits and led his team with 168 blocked shots. All the while he managed five goals and 22 points.

At the end of the day Schenn is not ever likely to challenge for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, but he certainly has the potential to develop into a solid defensive citizen who can make life miserable for the other team's top scorers.

Burke has high hopes for his young defender.

“I don't want to embarrass Luke, but what you see is a classic, hard-nosed, shutdown, Canadian defenceman," Burke said. "Luke plays the game the way we all dream about finding players that play that way. He's hard to play against; he finishes his checks and he's gotten dramatically better in the time he's been here. I don't think he's done (developing) yet. I think he can get better in his own end and I think his offensive side can continue to develop. You saw that a little bit last year when he got over 20 points and I think that number can increase."

Some may have higher expectations for Schenn after the significant pay bump, but not coach Ron Wilson.

"Luke and I already talked about it and personally if a guy makes more money I don't expect more in terms of a per dollar thing," Wilson said. "That's the business side of things. I want Luke to play exactly like he did last year and continue to improve. In our league goaltending is obviously the toughest position, but learning to be an NHL defenceman is a long process. Luke has gotten better every year so I expect him to continue to improve. He's a stay-at-home shut down guy and he's got to continue to excel at that."

Burke has said from Day 1 upon joining the Maple Leafs that building the team from the backend out was his top priority. Getting Schenn signed plays right into that.

"I've never changed my philosophy which is unless you keep the puck out of your net you're not going to have a championship team," he said. "It's like pitching in baseball. You can have eight Hall of Famers on the field, but if you don't have the pitching you're not going to win. In my mind championship teams start on the backend."

Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf, among others, was pleased Schenn was able to get his deal done so he could start training camp.

"We were here the last few weeks and he didn't miss a skate," Phaneuf said. "He was here for all the workouts without a contract. That really shows what type of guy he is and I respect him for that. I'm really glad he got it done and he's got a big smile on his face today."

Orr set to go The topic of whether or not the NHL should allow fighting has heated up once again following the tragic death of three enforcers this summer. But none of that, nor the fact he is coming off a serious concussion, has dissuaded Maple Leafs tough guy Colton Orr from being ready to do his job.

Orr maintains he is 100 per cent healthy and ready to resume his role as a fighter -- a hired gun, if you will -- in the NHL.

"I'm cleared to play," Orr said. "I've taken part in all the skates we've had and I'm going to be ready to go for the beginning of training camp."

In fact, Orr said he was cleared to play late last season, but the team made a decision to keep him out of the lineup, lest he should get into a fight and re-injure himself. Orr was knocked cold in a fight with Anaheim's enforcer, George Parros, Jan. 20 and didn't play again. In 42 games he had two goals and 128 penalty minutes averaging 5:04 playing time per game.

This past summer two enforcers, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak, took their own lives. Both were said to have suffered from depression which may or may not have been job related. People in all walks of life suffer from depression. Also, Derek Boogaard died after taking an accidental overdose of prescription medication.

Orr knows the risks he takes as a big-league fighter, but is prepared for the risk. For his troubles he earns $1 million a year for two more seasons.

"There's always a bit of concern, but this is my job," Orr said. "It's a choice I've made and I love being in the NHL and sticking up for my teammates. I'm looking forward to the season. I went through a lot of testing and I had the best doctors as well as great support from the team. I'm fully ready to go. I'm ready to drop the gloves or do whatever it takes when the time comes."

Wilson understands every time he sends Orr over the boards, there is a risk the player could be hurt again. Really, it's the same with all his players.

Wilson makes one thing clear, though: "First of all, you have to understand I would never tell Colton Orr as he's going over the boards that he is to be involved in a fight. That's essentially Colton's responsibility of knowing the right timing. For sure you think about it. There's no doubt, but I have to trust in Colton. He says he's ready to go and he's fully prepared to live with the circumstances.

"I have a conscience. As a coach I've never put people in a position where they could possibly get hurt. That was part of the process last year. When he was given clearance to play we held him out because we weren't comfortable with him. He's comfortable now. He's worked hard all summer and he's been to every doctor you could go to regarding concussions and the big problem is how little people know about these things."

Orr said he spent the summer training and never once considered retiring because of his head injury.

"I was always pushing to come back," Orr said. "I'm going to play my game. The biggest keys are to stay in shape and stay healthy. I'm going to play my same game.

More from the coach Wilson enters his fourth season as coach of the Maple Leafs and with just one year left on his contract. Some would say he's a bit of a lame duck coach and if things go south early, he'll be the first to go. Wilson is not concerned; or so he said.

"You know what," Wilson said, "I never asked for a contract extension. I'm not worrying about next year; I'm worrying about this year. I've always taken care of my money … If I get fired a month in or five years from now, that's part of the game. If somebody thinks I'm not doing the job or we're not doing as well as we should be doing, then I should be fired. It's part of the game."

On making the playoffs: "For sure the playoffs are doable. I think we've only done good things this summer in terms of addressing needs with Tim Connolly coming on and being healthy and all gung-ho with something to prove. I think eventually Matthew Lombardi will really enhance our lineup when he's ready to go. He's getting very close to getting a clean bill of health. On the backend, John-Michael Liles and Cody Franson add a lot.

“Like any playoff team in our league -- and everybody thinks they are one right now -- goaltending has been, since I've been here, a bit of an issue either through how well they performed or because of injuries. We enter this training camp with the NHL goalies we have in very good shape and confident they can get the job done. Good goaltending goes a long way in our league.

“A great goalie can smooth over a lot of rough edges and make up for mistakes that happen in front of him,” Wilson continued. “If you don't trust your goalie your confidence sinks. That probably happened to us late in October and early in November last year. We were never confident as a team in the goaltending we were getting at that time. When James Reimer came in and stabilized our goaltending you saw the kind of potential in our team."

On his team's toughness: "I think we're tough enough. Orr has been given a clean bill of health. Mike Brown is a little bit off and it's going to take another week or so before he's closer to 100 per cent. We've got Jay Rosehill battling for ice time and a spot on the team. Our backend is big and mobile and our defence adds a lot of stiffness. Maybe in some areas we lack size up front, but I have never seen this team back off in a physical game so I'm not worried about that."

On the Leafs inviting 70 players to training camp: "We'll be down to 40 guys after Wednesday and by next weekend we'll be down, I'm hoping, to 26 or 27 players. I'm cutting through all the B.S. here and getting to the NHL players. I'm not worried about where we're going to be in two or three years. My primary responsibility is making the playoffs this year and getting off to a good start."

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.