The New Jersey Devils announced that they have bought out goaltender Cory Schneider. Schneider had two years left on his contract with a salary-cap hit of $6 million. The Devils will now have a salary cap hit of $2 million over the next four years.
Indeed, source confirms the Devils are buying out Cory Schneider. Which also means the Devils now in the goalie market. https://t.co/fGCrgVDiDA
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 8, 2020
New Jersey Devils Buy-Out Cory Schneider
It has been a rocky road for Cory Schneider and the Devils. There was a lot of promise for Schneider when he came over to the Devils from the Vancouver Canucks in 2013. Then general manager Lou Lamoriello was looking to make a splash at the 2013 NHL Draft. He traded the ninth overall pick, which became Bo Horvat, for Schneider as the Devils were looking for a replacement for the ageing Martin Brodeur. Coming into the 2013-14 season, Schneider had replaced Roberto Luongo in Vancouver as the starting goaltender. However, there was only room for one of them. Schneider was shipped to New Jersey. At the time the deal made sense for both parties. And even today, the deal makes sense. The Devils needed to find someone they could put in between the pipes when Brodeur decided to move on.
He split goaltending duties with Brodeur until the end of the 2013-14 season until he took over the starters role the following year. That is when Lamoriello signed Schneider to the current deal that he is on a seven-year, $42 million contract extension. During the 2014-15 season, Schneider posted a 2.26 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. However, the Devils wasted the prime of his career not making the playoffs. Soon injuries haunted Cory Schneider and he was never the same player. It all started during the 2017-18 season, where he missed a majority of the season due to a groin injury. He came back in the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs playing Games 3, 4, and 5. The Devils won Game 3 thanks to Schneider’s play.
Schneider has appeared in 409 regular-season games, starting 388 of them finishing with a record of 170-159-58. In those games, he has a 2.43 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. The Canucks originally took in the first round, 26th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft out of Boston College.
Going Forward
Even though Schneider has gone through a tough stretch. He still has something left to prove. Evident by his play before the 2019-20 NHL Season got shut down because of COVID-19. After being recalled from Binghamton, Schneider won three of the last four games he appeared in. He finally looked to be over the injuries that had plagued him for the last couple of seasons. It is not easing recovering from hip surgery especially if you are a goalie. Just look at Jonathan Quick and Pekka Rinne. Not to mention how quickly he was rushed back from other injuries as well.
Going to a new team will suit him well, especially if he is the backup. Schneider can definitely come in and give the starter the night off. Sometimes a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered. The Devils could not have the same goaltending duo as they did last year. It just did not work.
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