How Braden Schneider is emerging as young leader, core piece for Rangers
With the New York Rangers latest youth movement well underway, an emerging leader of the 20-somethings who has quietly taken his game to another level is Braden Schneider.
The 23-year-old defenseman is a solid fixture on the back end, already in his fourth NHL season. Still, he flies under the radar a bit due to a heavy emphasis on the Rangers young forward group with the arrival of top prospect Gabe Perreault, the elevation of Brennan Othmann into the top six, Will Cuylle earning the prestigious Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, and Brett Berard filling a void in the bottom six.
So steady defensively, Schneider is getting more attention lately as his offensive game picks up. After opening the scoring in the Rangers last game, a 5-4 overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday, Schneider reached a new career high with six goals this season. In the past five games, Schneider has four points, upping his total 20, the most he’s had in the NHL.
The point totals may not be eye popping, and in fact, are comparable to his previous totals to this point when he finished with 18 points in 2022-23 and 19 points last season. But there’s a steady progression and, lately, seemingly more confidence offensively, as displayed on his overtime goal in a 3-2 Rangers in against the Wild on March 15.
After averaging a consistent 15-minutes per game the past two seasons, Schneider’s seen his TOI jump to nearly 18 minutes a game. For a “bottom-pairing” defenseman that gets zero power-play time, that’s an additional shift coach Peter Laviolette is finding for him in each period, proving his growing trust in the development of this young talent.
You often hear a coach analyze a young defenseman’s growth by his ability to know when to pinch and when to hang back. Schneider’s always shown this ability at a veteran level, but lately has been consistently able to join the rush effortlessly with his smooth strides while getting himself in scoring position to get a heavy shot off that is still an untapped strength in his game itself.
It was his pinch from the point by Schneider during the dominating 6-1 victory over the lowly San Jose Sharks on Saturday that gave Artemi Panarin all night and day to put the Rangers opening goal behind former teammate Alexandar Georgiev.
“It’s our exits out of the zone and making the play once we cross their line”; Schneider emphasized during a first intermission interview with MSG. “If the play’s not there, were making good decisions.”
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Braden Schneider shares similar qualities with former Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh
Schneider’s game doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because of its simplicity, which in the Rangers case is something they need more of to prevent the loud mistakes and turnovers that we don’t have to elaborate on more than it has been. While he was dubbed “Baby Trouba” early in his pro career, there’s another former Rangers captain that is visible in Schneider’s game, Ryan McDonagh.
The Elite Prospects 2020 NHL Draft Guide provided this commentary on Schneider, which could’ve been lifted from the McDonagh profile.
“He is an absolute behemoth of a dude at this level, imposing his will with thunderous hits, overpowering one-hand pushes, and cross-checks. He’s composed and doesn’t over-do the physicality or take needless penalties; enters every hit with his stick leading and doesn’t hit unless he can’t break up the play otherwise”.
McDonagh (No. 12 overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2007) and Schneider (No. 19 overall in 2020 by the Rangers) were each selected in the middle of the first round of their respective draft years. Each defenseman spent less than half a season in the minors before quickly making the jump to the NHL ranks. Schneider is described very similarly as a steady, mobile two-way defenseman with quick feet and good positioning. He’s known for making crisp outlet passes and shutting down rushes.
Watch him in his interviews with the media, too. He’s growing into a leader. Maybe a captain one day, like McDonagh.
His durability adds to Schneider’s appeal, too. He’s played all 75 games thus far this season, after skating in 82 and 81 his first two full seasons. Another plus is that he’s proved the ability to play up in the top four of the defense corps, as well as effectively on his off (left) side when needed. The Rangers have an expected goals share of right around 50 percent with Schneider on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick, not bad considering the myriad of defense partners he’s had this season
There’re plenty of good reasons why the Vancouver Canucks have been trying to pry Schneider away from the Rangers for years, including earlier this season during negotiations leading up to the J.T. Miller trade.
Let them ask. It appears Schneider is going to be a long-term fixture with the Rangers moving forward, and a leader of the next wave of their core.
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