Prospect Info: 2020 NHL Draft 19th Overall Pick, Braden Schneider, D

[Black Tank]

A couple of thoughts:

1) Lapierre may be sexy but so is betting your mortgage payment on the 35-1 at Belmont. No more tragic first round losses due to injury/health. We've exceeded our quota.
2) I see some people comparing him to Trouba and then shitting on Trouba. They are f***ing clueless. Trouba eats the big minutes against the toughest match-ups and provided the cover for the Fox-Lindgren pairing to develop as nicely as they have. You have to have somebody take on the first line monsters of the opponent and for us it's Trouba and some lame partner. If we get another Trouba that can play big, dependable minutes on an ELC, that's a f***ing homerun.
3) Beukeboom was awesome and the organization has been looking for that ever since.
4) It's nice to mindf*** the Devils.

 

[AB13]

Seems like a low upside player taken too high but we will see. Doesn’t seem like what we need but hoppfully I am proven wrong, he looks like a decent player. Would have preffered Grans, Andrae, or Barron.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

Said for months now that TDA will not be here long term. Size matters on defense and Lundkvist, Fox and DeAngelo are all 5'10-5'11. Players like Lafreniere and Schneider have playoff types of games. This pick was a homerun. Trouba will probably be moved in 4 years.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

Seems like a low upside player taken too high but we will see. Doesn’t seem like what we need but hoppfully I am proven wrong, he looks like a decent player. Would have preffered Grans, Andrae, or Barron.

That's because you don't understand what wins in the playoffs.

 

[AB13]

That's because you don't understand what wins in the playoffs.

High end skilled players usually prevail ahead of physical players without great skill or offensive ability.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

It was obvious how freakin soft the Rangers were in their play in series vs. the Canes. Especially on defense. TDA is definitely out of here at some point. As well as Buchnevich.

 

[n8]

Seems like a low upside player taken too high but we will see. Doesn’t seem like what we need but hoppfully I am proven wrong, he looks like a decent player. Would have preffered Grans, Andrae, or Barron.

i dunno. his upside kinda seems like Boychuk/Carlo

 

[AB13]

i dunno. his upside kinda seems like Boychuk/Carlo

I don´t think he is that good and there were a few higher upside defencemen left, some of them still have not been selected.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

I thought this shift by shift of him against the Oil Kings, who were the 3rd best team in the WHL this year, was pretty interesting:



A couple things stood out to me:
- He played almost 23 minutes and I don't think his team gave up one good 5v5 scoring chance with him on the ice except for one play where I'm pretty sure his poke check bounced off of his teammate and back to the player on the other team.
- He's really smart, aggressive, and effective with his pinches. He steps up a lot and he breaks up the play almost every time he does while rarely giving up chances on bad pinches. He stopped a lot of chances before they developed.
- He broke up a few plays in front of the net and I don't think he got beat off the rush (although there weren't many rushes against him because he normally broke the play up before it got to that point).
- I don't think he had one bad turnover and almost every time he had the puck on his stick, it ended up on one of his teammates tapes in improved position.
- He seemed to distribute the puck pretty well in the offensive zone.
- He seemed to be one of the better skaters on the ice.

In general, he seems like a guy who is very good at preventing the other team from getting chances and very good at moving the puck. Between the defense and the puck distribution, his corsi must have been like 80% that game. He didn't make any wow plays, but he might have made every play his team was relying on him to make without any mistakes.

I'm not sure where he fits in with Trouba, Fox, ADA, and Lundkvist already in the system, but I think guys who play effective defense, make the plays their teams are relying on them to make, and help their team control the puck are really valuable, even if they don't score a lot, so he seems like a pretty interesting prospect to me.

Thanks for sharing. This clip does an outstanding job of showcasing just about everything in his scouting profile. Those who don’t like the pick, especially those who are bemoaning it as McIlrath reprised, should watch and see exactly what kind of prospect we’ve drafted here.

Again, I was rooting for the sexy forward pick myself as I saw the names fall, but folks should remember: this is a guy we had all written off as not an option, because it seemed dead certain he would be gone well before we picked...

 

[pld459666]

Absolutely. Early feedback indicates they studied whatever medical stuff they could get their hands on and just did not come away totally comfortable. There’s the lingering doubt that two or three years down the line you could be faced with another problem.

The talent is never in doubt. They love the talent. But you have to wonder if maybe it isn’t for the best.

This team lost very young first round picks and top prospects from the 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007 drafts to health issues and had first rounders in 2003 and 2010 face major injuries at young ages. If your medical consultants raise red flags, it’s going to have some weight on the decision.

Those concussions pretty much removed him from the board for me.

3 in 9 months is scary for his future.

I doubt he gets through a full season going forward.

Hope im wrong.

 

[charliemurphy]

FWIW there was talk that the Leafs would draft him at 15 and that he could push for an NHL job with them right away. He plays a safe and steady game--he can play physical and he skates well and he plays within his limitations which speaks to maturity. Kind of a Ryan Graves maybe or a Mike Sauer without the injury history.

I agree that he’s very polished but IMO, I think he will spend one last year in WHL before heading to Hartford. I love this pick, glad Gorton made the move and was surprised he was there at 22. His offensive game will probably develop and come into form over the next season or two. Again, he’s very well polished but putting him on the ice with the Rangers within the next season would be rushing him. Not exactly sure where he would fit it perhaps it coincides with Trouba NMC kicking in. As far as a player comparison I’d have to go with Brent Seabrook type... when he’s on the ice yeh puck doesn’t stay in the zone for very long. He excels at taking away space, very strong big physical skater and natural leader. I don’t even want to think about the idea of paring him with Miller down the line... might start feeling bad for the other team. Seriously, Schneider being paired with Miller or Robertson down the line would be a very physical match up for opposing players. Gorton did very well. Now, to move on from TDA, Strome, etc to get a 2C, lol

 

[The S5]

I think it’s a solid pick. I don’t think it’s a flashy pick, or one that’s going to set anyone’s heart ablaze, but I do think it was good value and they got the type of player you potentially win with.

I think they have options down the line for moves and Schneider does something that is very easy to overlook in a defenseman these days:

He plays actual, solid defense.

He’s not your power play QB, or the guy setting up plays. He has a very clear mission - get puck from opponent, get puck out of danger.

He’s a bastard to play against and not because he is sending guys flying all ice, because he is just relentless in how he hounds opponents. He doesn’t give them a moment to relax or get comfortable.

Thank you. It isn't always about flashy skilled players. Teams need players who are tough to play against and wear the opposition down.
There are plenty of fantastic D in the NHL who didn't check every box for scouts, yet, there they are, playing critical roles for their teams.
Frankly, the last thing the organization needs to do is become the Leafs.

 

[Ghost of jas]

Thanks for sharing. This clip does an outstanding job of showcasing just about everything in his scouting profile. Those who don’t like the pick, especially those who are bemoaning it as McIlrath reprised, should watch and see exactly what kind of prospect we’ve drafted here.

Again, I was rooting for the sexy forward pick myself as I saw the names fall, but folks should remember: this is a guy we had all written off as not an option, because it seemed dead certain he would be gone well before we picked...

As I said elsewhere, if people want to use a McIlrath comparison, Kleven is probably the guy who fits that description. Other than being right-handed, there's not much of a similarity between Schneider and McIlrath. We ALL expected Schneider to be gone by Toronto's pick. As you know, I was on the Lapierre train, but, even I realized that the injuries were going to be a concern, which @Edge has confirmed. I wasn't interested in Zary, and Bourque, (as per @Edge), did not interview well. And, it sounds like Khusnutdinov is a prime target if the Rangers are able to secure an early 2nd today,

 

[SML2]

I'm confused. A lot of people are complaining about picking another RHD, but some of those people are the same folks who say that we should pick BPA and complained about us drafting-for-need in the past.

If the Rangers genuinely though he was BPA, then I'm on board, regardless of our current RHD situation. A lot can change in three or four years...who knows if ADA or Trouba will still be here, or if Lundkvist works out.

You look at how fast Winnipegs defense went from strength to weakness and BPA makes alot of sense.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

After sleeping on it here are my thoughts on Schneider.

In a vacuum he's not a bad pick at all, he went in an expected range for him, towards the top of that range but still in the range. My issue with the pick is that I don't think he's as good as the big scouting services do. I'm just not sure if his defending and puck moving will translate to the next level and we just don't have enough data to look into this in a good way.

But mostly it's about the context of who were available at the time. NYR has a hole at C and Mavrik Bourque was just chilling there on the draft board, I just don't get how they had Schneider so far ahead of Bourque on their draft board that they decided that trading up was a good idea.

Basically it comes down to who was available and the fact that I don't like trading up in the first place, this is why I don't like this Schneider pick for Rangers. I do like that he's an RHD over LHD because outside of the NHL and Lundkvist it looks barren in that position.

 

[Inferno]

After sleeping on it here are my thoughts on Schneider.

In a vacuum he's not a bad pick at all, he went in an expected range for him, towards the top of that range but still in the range. My issue with the pick is that I don't think he's as good as the big scouting services do. I'm just not sure if his defending and puck moving will translate to the next level and we just don't have enough data to look into this in a good way.

But mostly it's about the context of who were available at the time. NYR has a hole at C and Mavrik Bourque was just chilling there on the draft board, I just don't get how they had Schneider so far ahead of Bourque on their draft board that they decided that trading up was a good idea.

Basically it comes down to who was available and the fact that I don't like trading up in the first place, this is why I don't like this Schneider pick for Rangers. I do like that he's an RHD over LHD because outside of the NHL and Lundkvist it looks barren in that position.

Apparently bourque had a terrible interview

 

[Inferno]

Fwiw kaliyev had a bad interview last year with a few teams and meeting that guy in person. I would stay far the eff away from him...even with all his talent.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Apparently bourque had a terrible interview

Okay, doesn't change most of my points though. with how the draft unfolded the value was definitely in moving down, not moving up. Moving down and picking some combination of Bourque/Niederbach/Khusnutdinov + Grans/Niemilä made so much sense for NYR.

 

[darko]

A couple of thoughts:

1) Lapierre may be sexy but so is betting your mortgage payment on the 35-1 at Belmont. No more tragic first round losses due to injury/health. We've exceeded our quota.
2) I see some people comparing him to Trouba and then shitting on Trouba. They are f***ing clueless. Trouba eats the big minutes against the toughest match-ups and provided the cover for the Fox-Lindgren pairing to develop as nicely as they have. You have to have somebody take on the first line monsters of the opponent and for us it's Trouba and some lame partner. If we get another Trouba that can play big, dependable minutes on an ELC, that's a f***ing homerun.
3) Beukeboom was awesome and the organization has been looking for that ever since.
4) It's nice to mindf*** the Devils.

Well Trouba sucks according to some.

 

[Edge]

Okay, doesn't change most of my points though. with how the draft unfolded the value was definitely in moving down, not moving up. Moving down and picking some combination of Bourque/Niederbach/Khusnutdinov + Grans/Niemilä made so much sense for NYR.

Unfortunately, I think it’s easy to say different moves make sense when we assume the team actually likes certain players and that they’d be on the board with the pick you traded down for.

Sometimes teams just really don’t want to chance that, or can’t find the right partner that puts them in that position.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Unfortunately, I think it’s easy to say different moves make sense when we assume the team actually likes certain players and that they’d be on the board with the pick you traded down for.

Sometimes teams just really don’t want to chance that, or can’t find the right partner that puts them in that position.

Well, I know for a fact NYR likes Niederbach and Grans and saw/see them as options if they traded down or into the 2nd.

 

[Edge]

I have to tell you, from a mentality standpoint, Schneider is much closer to McD than McIlrath.

He doesn’t have McD’s skating or offensive upside, but he has that bulldog defensive mentality that makes it a long night for defenders.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Am I missing something or did Lapierre not even have concussions? Weren’t they misdiagnosed by a Canadian doctor and then the doctor in Florida discovered it was actually just a minor neck injury? Or is this only true for the last concussion? Even if he’s had 2 concussions that isn’t something unprecedented by any means

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Also, the Trouba comparison isn't very good at all for Schneider, they don't play a very similar game at all.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

My overly simplified opinion: Lafreniere is a team-defining pick. Schneider is a team-building pick.