New Jersey Devils: Grading Another Tough Year For Cory Schneider

The New Jersey Devils had to go through another year of bad Cory Schneider play in goal. What will happen to him going forward?

The New Jersey Devils have a  decision to make with Cory Schneider. He has two years left after this one paying him $6 million per season. He makes a lot of money because he once deserved it, but that’s just not the case now. He was an all star for the Devils in the past. Now, injuries and inconsistent play have left his future in doubt. There was some hope that he would have a bounce-back year in 2019-20, but that didn’t happened.

Schneider was unable to keep up in the early parts of the season, so the Devils made the decision to put him on waivers with the hope of him going to the Binghamton Devils. He made it through the waiver period without being claimed and was assigned to the AHL Devils. He struggled down there at first, but he somewhat found his game. After the NHL Trade Deadline, the Devils traded new backup goalie Louis Domingue to the Vancouver Canucks and kept Schneider up for good.

He started to play a little better down the stretch, but it is clear that this is MacKenzie Blackwood‘s net for the time being. They hope it is for a long time, but that makes you wonder what is next for Schneider. There is a chance they stick with him as an expensive backup, but buying him out is another option. If they traded him to another team, chances are they would have to retain salary on these last two seasons.

In 13 games played at the NHL level, he had a 3-6-2 record. He did record a shutout but his 3.53 goals-against average and .887 save percentage were less than Schneider like. In 14 games for the Binghamton Devils, he had a .903 save percentage and .271 goals-against average. They aren’t the numbers you’d expect from a former Vezina caliber goaltender playing in the minors but it did allow him to play somewhat better for a long stretch.

Schneider started to play okay down the stretch in the NHL in a platoon with Blackwood but it probably wasn’t good enough. His future is still uncertain but hopefully, people are able to remember how good he was for a long time when it is all said and done.

Schneider gets a D- for his season. He just wasn’t very good at all and his numbers support that fact. It was made even worse that he had to go on waivers and ultimately play in the American Hockey League. He does avoid an F, however, because of the fact that there were times that he played well down the stretch.