Braden Schneider showing the Rangers he belongs in the NHL
Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider sets before a face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period of a game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 19, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Braden Schneider looks like a guy who belongs.
Despite playing only his eighth NHL game on Friday night after being called up from AHL Hartford on Jan. 11, the 20-year-old defenseman has fit seamlessly into the lineup for the Rangers. Coach Gerard Gallant and assistant coach Gord Murphy, who runs the defense, are starting to give the rookie more and more responsibility.
After he took his first penalty-killing shift as an NHL player in the win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, Schneider was asked if the next step was getting power-play time. He laughed.
"We’re not going to get that far ahead,’’ he said before Thursday’s game in Columbus.
That night, with Adam Fox out of the game because of an upper-body injury, Schneider did get power-play time. He earned an assist on Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal that pulled the Rangers within 4-3 in a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jackets.
Afterward, when Gallant groused that there were maybe only "three guys that I was really happy with’’ in the game, Schneider was definitely one of them. The rookie had two assists, his first multipoint game.
"He’s played great,’’ Gallant said. "He played really well. For sure.’’
As the Rangers hosted the Minnesota Wild on Friday night, Schneider had become one of the regulars the coaches count on. In speaking of the native of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, this week, Gallant called him "a mini-Trouba,’’ referring to Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba.
Schneider, a 6-2, 202-pound righthanded shot, plays a sound, physical game, just like the 6-3, 209-pound Trouba, who also is a righty. Schneider seemed to like the comparison.
"I think that would be a perfect way to put it,’’ he said. "I think we have a lot of similarities to our games, and he’s a guy that I would like to model parts of my game after. And yeah, it’s awesome that I get to watch and learn firsthand [from Trouba] each game.’’
Schneider said he’s not ready to think he’s in the NHL to stay just yet, but he did say things are getting easier for him every game.
After the initial adrenaline rush of making his debut Jan. 13 in San Jose — and scoring his first goal that night, with his parents in attendance — things are normalizing for him. His teammates have helped him navigate living in New York, he said, and if the games haven’t yet become routine, at least the pace is slowing down for him.
"It’s still not — I wouldn’t say ‘nerve-wracking,’ but it’s still exciting to play in each game,’’ he said. "There’s still that sense of excitement. I mean, you’re playing at the top level. And yeah, it’s a lot of fun and I’m enjoying it. But it’s definitely starting to settle in a little bit. I’m finding my footing and getting more comfortable each day.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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