New Jersey Devils: Cory Schneider Deserves A Chance To Start

The New Jersey Devils have one big question mark in 2019-20 and it is the goaltending. Cory Schneider deserves a chance to prove himself.

The New Jersey Devils are a team that made lots of nice additions over the summer. They added a star defenseman, a couple of skilled forwards, and some grit that can help them in all areas. The biggest question about the team is going to be the goaltending. If a team doesn’t get good goaltending, it is impossible to win. The Devils might have better goaltending than some may believe.

Cory Schneider was an elite goalie at one point. He was easily top five in the entire league, and everybody knew he was the best player on the Devils. His play has taken a major dip over the last three seasons and it, unfortunately, has coincided with the Devils getting much better around him. They weren’t really good when he was at the height of his powers, so hopefully he can get some of that back now that they have a competitive roster.

Schneider deserves to be given the chance to take the number one job for this team. He has been a warrior for this team during some tough times and kept them from being historically bad. If you look at the Devils point totals during his most elite seasons, it is shocking to see because you would think a goalie that good would be on a playoff-bound team.

You can blame some of his struggles on injuries as well. Now, he appears to be healthy, and hopefully the struggles were because of injury. If that is the case and he is returning this year with a full bill of health, he should be able to be a great goalie once again. If he is 80% of his old self, he would elevate the Devils to a great season because there is so much more talent around him now.

Cory Schneider has never played a game in New Jersey with a defenseman in front of him as good as P.K. Subban. Guys like him and some of the great forwards this team has should allow Schneider to play his game and all he will need to do is give his team a chance to win. Training camp and the preseason is where Schneider will be given his first opportunity to shine and it could work out for him.

This is no disrespect to MacKenzie Blackwood who is turning into a really good goalie in his own right. He might be able to take over one day as the top guy on this team, but he has to prove himself without a doubt first. Schneider deserves to be given the first opportunity this season, but if he struggles they will not hesitate to give Blackwood his turn. There is also a chance that they split the games pretty equally, but at the end of the day whoever proves to give the Devils the best chance to win should be in the net.