New Jersey Devils: Cory Schneider Might Still Be Redeemable
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils downfall has a lot to do with the failure of their goalies to save them in certain situations. Cory Schneider has been bad, but there is hope he can turn it around.
Only one player in all of the National Hockey League that’s played at least 60 minutes at 5v5 has a worst save percentage than Cory Schneider in the first month. Winnipeg Jets netminder Laurent Brossoit has a .841 save percentage, while Schneider is sitting here with a .864. It’s about the worst possible scenario for the New Jersey Devils, as a lot of the hope for the season sat on the shoulders of Schneider. When accounting for special teams, Schneider is the absolute worst.
This sounds familiar. Much of last season, Schneider was the worst goalie in the league. His save percentage was not close to other goalies. He was allowing goals against high, medium and low-danger shots. He was plain bad.
There was reason for hope. Schneider was certifiably great to end last season. Then, he was even better in the World Championships playing for Team USA. On top of all that, he looked like one of the best goalies in the league during the preseason. We were riding high thinking the Schneider of old was back in the crease.
The big problem with Schneider over the past three seasons was clearly confidence. He looked like a man broken by injuries. His hip was killing him, and he couldn’t overcome it. He finally got surgery last offseason, and after taking an extended time to recover, it looked like he was back to the guy the Devils traded for at the 2013 NHL Draft.
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Then, the season began. Schneider got hurt in the very first game on a side to side save, and Mackenzie Blackwood was forced to step in. Great. The biggest fear is Schneider getting hurt, and it didn’t even take 45 minutes of game play for it to happen.
We all know what happened from there. Blackwood blew the lead after coming in ice cold, and it became one of many blown leads to start this season.
One of his biggest problems is he’s having trouble following the puck. That has to be something that’s fixable. Only five goalies in the NHL have a longer average goal distance. Schneider’s average goal is just over 26 feet away. What’s strange is his average shot distance (about 34 feet) is somewhere in the middle of the pack. Again, that is something that should be fixable with goalie coach Rollie Melanson.
A weird stat shows that Schneider’s save percentage plummets when the team is in the lead. It’s barely over .800 when the Devils are winning. That might have something to do with the other team trying a little harder, but he’s only faced six high-danger shots against when in the lead. He’s allowed three of them to get past him.
Schneider has allowed five other goals when leading. That means five of the goals leading Schneider to blow a lead were low or medium-danger chances. This shows that he’s letting bad shots in again. This time, it has nothing to do with skill. Schneider showed us he has that same lateral movement. The big worry here is he actually hurt himself in that first game. Sure, he’s played multiple games since then, but he’s getting worse as the game goes on. Is it an age problem that can’t be fixed, or is it our goalie getting tight at the big moments?
If it’s the latter, that sounds bad, but it might be the best possible scenario. If it’s a mental thing, that’s something you can fix. If Schneider just got old and can’t be fixed, then the Devils have a major problem.