Braden Schneider has become one of those Rangers questions that never really goes away. The organization keeps speaking about him like there’s a bigger role waiting, but the lineup decisions keep telling a different story.
That tension goes back to Oct. 6, 2020, when the Rangers were locked in on Alexis Lafrenière with the No. 1 pick and only had one real mystery left that night: what they would do with their second first-rounder. There was some chatter about Quinton Byfield, but Lafrenière was the consensus top player, and the bigger suspense was the extra pick.
Then the Rangers moved. They sent the 22nd overall selection and a third-rounder to the Calgary Flames to jump ahead of the New Jersey Devils, and then-president John Davidson was shushing people in the room while pumping his fist like someone had just handed him a meatball parm hero. That’s how Schneider entered the picture.
Since then, the issue has been simple: what exactly are the Rangers supposed to do with him?
Schneider arrived in an organization that already had Adam Fox, Tony DeAngelo and Nils Lundkvist on the blue line. DeAngelo eventually blew up, and the Rangers replaced him with Jacob Trouba. Later, Schneider moved ahead of Lundkvist after Chris Drury dealt the disgruntled, undersized, oft-injured defenseman to the Lone Star State for a first-round pick.
So yes, the Rangers found a place for Schneider.
The problem is that he hasn’t been especially good.
What makes him such an odd case is the disconnect between the praise and the usage. Rangers coaches and front office voices have repeatedly talked up his talent and labeled him “Baby Trouba” as a compliment, even if that comparison is baffling on its own. But when it comes to actual deployment, they haven’t opened up a path for him to climb out of that third-pair role.
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What makes this stretch encouraging is that it is not coming from one player carrying the load. Cuylles versatility, Lafrenires continued rise, Perreaults upside and Kartyes ability to chip in give the Rangers multiple paths to more scoring depth. For a team that has been searching for more long-term certainty up front, that kind of development is exactly the sort of thing that can change the outlook, even if the final shape of the group is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]