Struggling Rangers defenseman on Sharks ‘radar’ ahead of trade deadline
There’s a pretty good chance that New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury catches up with his San Jose Sharks counterpart — and close friend — Mike Grier on Friday, when their respective teams hook up at SAP Center. It wouldn’t be surprising if Braden Schneider’s name comes up in that conversation.
With the NHL Trade Deadline not far off on March 6, and the Rangers decision to retool their roster made public last week, Grier wouldn’t be doing his job if he failed to inquire about the 24-year-old defenseman’s availability.
And perhaps he’s done so already since Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported Thursday that Schneider “was a player that they actually poked around on last season.”
“Schneider is somebody on their radar,” Pagnotta told Forever Blueshirts on the RINK RAP podcast. “Now, yeah, Schneider’s not having the best of seasons, but neither is the entire team, for the most part. So, can’t lay that exclusively on him, although it would be nice if he upped his performance for sure. But this is a player San Jose had interest in, and poked around again, and we’ll see if it comes to something here whether before the Olympic break or before the trade deadline.”
A physical right-shot defenseman in his mid-20s with 337 games of NHL experience is quite the trade chip should Drury choose to cash it in. The Rangers have a slew of holes to fill on their roster and throughout the organization; trading Schneider could bring in a favorable haul, though would also create another hole in their defense corps.
The Sharks want to upgrade their group of defensemen, and get younger on the blue line at the same time. Schneider certainly would help them achieve those goals.
“Mike Grier is listening now on all his pending unrestricted free agent defensemen and at the same time trying to find other ways and other outlets to bring in some guys that are in their mid or early 20s, primarily that are going to shore up this blue line moving forward for San Jose,” Pagnotta explained.
John Klingberg, Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liljegren, and Vincent Desharnais are veteran defensemen on San Jose’s roster who can each become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. So, yes, they’d love to pick up some assets in return for one or two of them, and add Schneider to aid their playoff push this season and be a long-term fixture on the back end moving forward.
“The Sharks are certainly in a playoff-type mode mentality, but they also know they have pieces on the back end that can bring back value, that they can package and flip to provide more stability on that back end that they can help grow with the rest of the core,” Pagnotta explained further.
The up-and-coming Sharks are loaded with young high-end talent at forward, led by 19-year-old wonderkid Macklin Celebrini. And we sure know the Rangers are bereft of those type players within their organization.
So, who says there’s not a deal to be made here?
Despite struggles, Braden Schneider still key trade chip for Rangers
The Rangers are at an interesting crossroads with Schneider, not dissimilar to K’Andre Miller’s situation a year ago. They again have a young defenseman, a former first-round draft pick, who’s been a lineup regular for five seasons, yet is backsliding in his development. Like Miller in 2025, Schneider’s due a sizeable raise since he’s a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights at season’s end.
Do you believe in the player enough to invest big dollars and sign him longer term with UFA status closing in? The Rangers pulled the chute on Miller, trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes this past offseason.
Schneider is not an exact apples to apples comparison to Miller because their roles and styles are different. But the Rangers do face a similar difficult decision with Schneider.
It doesn’t help that Schneider was sheltered for four seasons on the third defense pair. And when given increased responsibility this season — especially after he replaced the injured Adam Fox on the top pair for two extended stretches — Schneider struggled mightily. No Rangers skater has been on ice for more goals against 5v5 than Schneider (45), whose xGF percentage is an ugly 44.24 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.
“Not everybody is Matthew Schaefer. Not everybody’s going to dive into this and at 18 years old be as good as he’s been,” Pagnotta said in support of Schneider. “It takes a bit of time for some players. If you’re pace-carring this and then suddenly let the reins off, it doesn’t always work out favorably, at least in the first year. It takes a little bit of time to get fully acclimated to the new responsibilities. … I think that’s part of the growing pains Schneider is going through right now and why a lot of people are critical, fans especially, of his game this season.”
There’s plenty to like about Schneider, and there won’t be any shortage of suitors if the Rangers make him available, either before the deadline or during the offseason.
“San Jose’s not going to be the only team poking around on a guy like this. With the way the Rangers are going, obviously with the retool letter coming out, teams are going to try plucking guys away from this team, the vultures are going to be coming in. San Jose likes him. I’m sure other teams do, as well. We know Vancouver has in the past.”
So, yes, expect Schneider’s name to come up in Drury’s expected chat with Grier on Friday.
