Cory Schneider ended his rehab stint with the Binghamton Devils on a down note. Now, the New Jersey Devils have little to no options for their goalie.
Things went about as badly as they could have for Cory Schneider during his conditioning stint with the Binghamton Devils. Every single start, things turned bad early before Schneider settled down. We’ve heard this before. However, goals count just the same in the first period as they do the third. That means, when Schneider allows three and four goals in the first, his teammates scoring goals in the second and third don’t help unless it’s more than the other team. Things are hitting a bad situation for the New Jersey Devils.
Schneider still looks bad. There are no more excuses. It doesn’t matter that Binghamton does not have a good defense. It doesn’t matter that he makes a few good saves down the stretch. There’s not even a reason to bring up his injuries or his confidence or whatever ails him. It’s to the point that Schneider just can’t perform anymore.
He allowed six goals to an AHL team. I don’t care if it’s a good AHL team, it’s still a minor league team. It doesn’t matter if some of the goals weren’t his fault, a lot were and he just isn’t making the saves when he needs to.
The Devils have to go into this now figuring out how they are going to deal with this contract. General manager Ray Shero can’t prolong this anymore. He has the goalie of the future in Mackenzie Blackwood, he has the “starter” in Keith Kinkaid, and then there’s Cory. Schneider is running out of time on his conditioning stint with Binghamton. Shero has to decide whether he’s going to place Schneider on waivers and continue to play him in Bingo, or if he’s going to shoehorn him into the lineup as the backup with Kinkaid, then force Blackwood to play in the minors after clearly earning the starting job.
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Once that decision is made, an even bigger decision comes after that. The Devils are completely out of it this year. There’s nothing to play for except to get the young guys experience, show Taylor Hall there’s at least a skeleton of a good team here, and they need to figure out where people will slot on this team next season.
With Schneider, Shero has to decide whether they will give him one more shot, or will they cut bait and buy out the remaining three years of his deal. It would end up costing the Devils $2 million per season for the next six years. So, it puts money on the cap for twice as long, but it’s a third of the price. With a team that isn’t spending to the salary cap anyway, this may end up being an option.
This is a sad day. As much as some Devils fans always disliked Schneider because he wasn’t Martin Brodeur, there is zero doubting that he was a very good player for this franchise. Did he win Stanley Cups? No, but that wasn’t his fault. He happened to come to this team when Ray Shero took over and noticed there was a major mess left by his predecessor.
Don’t be surprised if you see Schneider on waivers by the end of the week. That doesn’t mean his time in a Devils uniform is over. It just means that he’s sticking in the AHL. Trust me, nobody is taking on that contract.
There’s only one thing that can change this. If Schneider finally gets a win, things could turn around immediately. His confidence is clearly shot. It’s possible that it’s that simple. He gets one win, and it all turns around. Goalie is a mental position, and having someone who’s broken like Schneider, if you don’t buy him out you need to fix him. Winning games with him in net is one way to fix him.