New Jersey Devils: Three replacements for Cory Schneider

The New Jersey Devils need to find a replacement for Cory Schneider.

The New Jersey Devils announced on Thursday that they are going to buy out the contract of Cory Schneider. They are going to let him go to a new team for free as they look to get relief from his $6 million cap hit. His tenure in New Jersey was a tale of two eras but there is little doubt that he was an elite goalie for a long time.

When he first came to New Jersey, they couldn’t score a goal to save their lives. They were one of the worst offensive teams in the league but Schneider kept them in games. As they started to get younger and faster, Schneider started to become less and less effective. It was tough to watch as fans but it was becoming clear that he was no longer the goalie that we once knew.

After a while, Mackenzie Blackwood started to come along. He has developed nicely, and now he looks like the guy who might be able to be their number one goalie for a long time. As true as that may be, they need another guy. The NHL is a two goalie league and the Devils showed us why in 2019-20. There aren’t many options in the organization for the time being so they might have to look to the outside.

This year’s free-agent goalie market is crazy. There are some big names that will be available to them if they wanted to give it a try. They probably aren’t giving out many long-term deals right now, but if they can get someone to agree to a shorter cheaper deal, it is worth exploring. These are the three free agent goalies that New Jersey should go for to replace Schneider:

The Chicago Blackhawks announced on Thursday that they are not going to be signing a contract extension with their long-time franchise goalie. That is the end of an era as Corey Crawford won’t be their starting goalie for the first time in almost a decade. He has had tremendous success there which makes him an attractive player to come help this young New Jersey Devils team grow. He has done just about everything there is to do in the NHL.

The two biggest moments of his career are the two times he won the Stanley Cup. He was a pivotal part of both of them as Chicago needed him to make big saves at key opportunities. He also has incredible career numbers and has done a lot of winning in the regular season. He would make a big impact on the Devils just on experience alone.

The only thing that could stop Crawford from coming to New Jersey is that he would have to be a backup to Mackenzie Blackwood. At this point in his career, that would probably be good for him. He split time with Robin Lehner in 2019-20 until Lehner was traded and he looked fresh as a result. This would be the type of addition that helps the team both on and off the ice.

The New Jersey Devils have had Thomas Greiss in their division playing for the New York Islanders for a few years now. They know just how good he can be as a backup goalie. The Islanders have that suffocating system that helps their goalies, but he would be a good backup here in New Jersey. The Devils need a guy for that role and he would be the kind that is a legit backup. Crawford would be more of a 1B goalie, but Greiss would probably play somewhere between 30-35 games.

In 31 games played for the 2019-20 New York Islanders, he had a 2.74 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage with his 16-9-4 record. Those are some good numbers for a 34-year-old goalie. He isn’t going to be part of the future by any means but he would be a nice player that would bring a decent amount of experience. Whatever his next team is will be the fifth team that he has played for.

Predicting a contract for Greiss is tough. It will, however, be a good indicator of how many games he would get. At 34, and will be 35 not long into next season, a short-term contract would make a lot of sense for him while the Devils look for a long-term backup to replace Schneider. It would be a great duo in the short term with him and Blackwood but it wouldn’t last longer than a few years.