Schenn adjusting off ice after trade to Islanders by Blues

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. -- Brayden Schenn needs some sleep.

"I haven't really gotten much," the newest New York Islanders forward said Thursday.

Describing the past week is an emotional chore for Schenn.

The 34-year-old forward woke up last Friday morning in San Jose still the captain of the St. Louis Blues, completely unaware that hours later, in the middle of 2026 NHL Trade Deadline Day, that he would be traded to the team staying in the same hotel as the Blues.

"You go 41 times a year and you won't even see another team hardly ever, very, very rarely," Schenn said. "And on trade deadline day it's the same team that I got traded to."

On Saturday, Schenn was playing his first game for the Islanders, a 2-1 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks.

Soon after, he was back home in St. Louis, in his house with his wife and three young kids, albeit now as an Islander and getting ready to play a road game in Enterprise Center, the building he called home for parts of nine seasons.

That happened Tuesday, an emotional night capped by a 4-3 come-from-behind win.

"It just happened so fast," Schenn said.

Schenn flew to New York on Wednesday night but got delayed and didn't arrive at his hotel until 1:15 in the morning. He didn't get to bed until after 2, he said.

He was on the ice at Northwell Health Ice Center by 10:30 on Thursday morning centering a brand new line with Ondrej Palat and Mathew Barzal in his first practice in his new home.

"Yeah, it's not easy," said Islanders center Bo Horvat, who himself was traded here on Jan. 30, 2023, after spending parts of nine seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, leaving the captaincy behind. "We had that conversation a little bit. It's one of those things where you're on a completely different team, different system, different organization, you're away from your family. It definitely makes things harder when you have kids too, being away from them and trying to get them settled. So there's a lot of factors that go into it off the ice that go unnoticed. It's not easy but that's our job as an organization and as teammates to make him feel comfortable, make him feel welcome and ease that transition for him."

That is happening and Schenn certainly sounds and looks comfortable in his new digs, especially on his new line that will debut against the Los Angeles Kings at UBS Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNW, MSGSN, TVAS).

But getting adjusted to that outside of hockey is arguably his biggest challenge now, one that is also a bit intimidating. He is relocating for the first time since 2017, only this time, he's doing it as a married man and father of three kids, 4, 2-and-a-half and 8 weeks old.

He said he is setting up a long-term condo for the time being but was leaving practice Thursday to pick up a car reserved for him so he can begin looking at short-term rental properties.

Schenn said he's hoping to have his family join him on Long Island after the Islanders get back from a three-game road trip they have next week.

He is signed for two more seasons after this one, so he will look to buy a home on Long Island, but is likely going to punt that decision until the summer even if he can't get anything shorter than a six-month lease on a rental property.

"Trying to get things dialed in and trying to get the family here as soon as possible," Schenn said. "Things are moving fast right now and the organization has been great just trying to help me as much as possible."

All the outside logistics fall out of Schenn's mind when he's on the ice and in the dressing room. That's where everything feels normal except for the fact that he's in a different place and on a different team.

His teammates have been welcoming and his role with the Islanders is similar, if not close to exactly the same, as the one he left in St. Louis, just without a letter on his jersey.

"I like the fact that he's a good face-off guy," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "I like the fact that he could play penalty killing. I know he's doing a really good job on the power play. I like the fact that he's a leader. He took (rookie forward Callum) Ritchie under his wing. He talked with him right off the get go. And he's a 200-foot guy. And he won a Stanley Cup, so I think that certainly would help our team if we could make the playoffs."

Schenn made a good first impression on his new team in San Jose. He saw a few of the Sharks players trying to take liberties on 18-year-old rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, so he went to the Sharks bench during a stoppage in play and basically told them to stop or else.

Schenn downplayed it, saying he was just playing "the game within the game," but his teammates recognized the value in him doing what he did.

"Brayden Schenn is as good of a person as you're going to find in the NHL," Barzal said. "The day he came in, just did little things that you can tell he's been a captain in the league, you can tell he's been in some good locker rooms. Just little things that you can't really teach I guess, it's just who he is. The first day he came in, we're on the power play and he sees a lot of potential so he comes in and gives us pointers that he remembered from Philly when he was playing on a similar unit with similar hands. Then going back to St. Louis and seeing how much he was respected in that locker room and in that city, just the way he talks, I mean, he's just really quality."

Now imagine what he'll do for the Islanders once he gets a good night of sleep.

An expected sellout crowd at UBS Arena will find out Friday.

"I said it when I got traded, it's always hard playing on Long Island (as a visitor)," Schenn said. "The team always plays the right way, the fanbase is always behind their team, and it's loud in there. So I'm looking forward to coming in as a home guy now and being part of their fanbase and being on the Island."