2025 Rangers Report Card: Braden Schneider

This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2024-25 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

Expectations

Since joining the New York Rangers in the middle of the 2021-22 season, Braden Schneider has seen his role on the team slowly grow. Expectations for this year were no different, as the team wanted him to take that proverbial next step in his career. He had been a fringe fifth man for the Rangers, playing on the bottom pair. But last season and into the playoffs, Schneider's role expanded. Whether that was mostly due to Jacob Trouba's injury is beside the point. Schneider's average ice time increased almost two minutes a game as he locked down a top four role alongside K'Andre Miller. While the results weren't all spectacular, this is still the responsibility and assignment the Rangers want Schneider to grab on to. He signed a two year bridge contract over the summer and has focused on improving parts of his game.

For Schneider to have a successful season in 2024-25, he needed to continue playing his physical brand of defensive hockey. He also needed to play his way into a top four role and find ways to activate and become part of the offensive breakout and attack. Other teams have coveted Schneider, but the Rangers have refused to include him in a trade package. Yet his career best sits at a measly 19 points. For him to live up to the team's estimation, he needs to find that element of his game and become an effective two-way defender.

Performance

In terms of any sense of stability, this year was very obviously a rocky one. So judging any player's performance through what became a nightmare campaign can be situationally be taken with a grain of salt. This is especially true for Schneider. As you're reading this, there's a very good chance you know about his injury, but we'll get to that a little bit later.

As the year began, Lindgren suffered an injury and the team was considering burying Trouba on the bottom. This is where Schneider got his chance to shine for the Rangers. He played on his off-side in the beginning of the year and didn't look all that bad for a while. But as the season progressed and players returned or were shipped out, the wheels fell off and the Rangers and their defense were in a plummeting free fall.

Schneider's stats for the 2024-25 campaign were mostly disappointing. Though he did improve his career best offensive totals with 6 goals and 15 assists, this was only a mere two points more than his previous best. Near the end of the year, there were signs of life where he'd activate or make a slick play and this instilled moments of hope, a rare feeling for us this year.

Outside of cherry picking some bright moments, his overall possession metrics took a substantial hit, with his CF% falling from 48.9% to 45.3%. Corsi percentages aren't the be-all-end-all for players, but out of all the pairings that he logged at least sixty minutes of all situations ice time with, the only positive result was when he skated with Trouba, where they maintained a 51.7%. With Miller, Urho Vaakanainen, Zac Jones, and even Adam Fox, the possession metrics for each duo he was part of were abysmal. Again this year, most of the defensive duos' possession metrics were no bueno, so don't panic too hard. But like most of his teammates, Schneider was unable to buck the trend and will need to improve on this in upcoming years.

Another noticeable difference from Schneider was his lack of physicality. His 2024-25 campaign had the least amount of hits since his rookie year when he only played half the season. It was apparent throughout the year, that penchant he's known for that got him the nickname "Mini Trouba" (for better or for worse) was totally absent this year. He showed up in more highlight reels getting hit rather than being the one to deliver the hit himself.

Well, now we know why. Now we know how the New York Rangers failed their coveted young defenseman.

Schneider missed the last two games of the year and in exit interviews revealed to the media he's been dealing with a torn labrum since 2022-23. He's been injured more than two whole seasons, and the Rangers simply let him play through it. For those that are unaware, the labrum is a ring of cartilage that surrounds the socket joint and cushions the bone by providing stability and fluid range of motion. Labrum repairs are often considered a major surgery, and if left to linger too long can have a permanent effect on a person.

Schneider went on to say he began to really feel the injury last season, but this year he was playing through legitimate pain. The Rangers had so many options they could have played instead of letting Schneider do this to himself. If you want to be angry about this, I suggest reading Chip's article where he rightfully tears into the administration's terrible player management.

Now knowing this is what the Rangers' young defenseman was dealing with, it puts his lack of growth into perspective. It's hard to be the best version of yourself when moving brings you that much pain. Schneider was even quoted saying the pain and knowing the injury was there led to him shying away from physical contact. Physical contact was an integral component of his game, and it's one of the biggest reasons he stood out in juniors and was drafted in the first round. He simply is not the same player without it.

Grades

Author Grade: B-

Banter Consensus: C+

Final Evaluation

We gave Schneider a grade, but in reality this year is a bit of a wash for him. Playing through an injury like he had was an irrational move, and judging his game during that timeframe will always give us an incomplete picture of what he could have been. We still gave him solid marks for what was overall a miserable season for most of the team because he did shine in some moments. Next season we'll see a fully health Braden Schneider, and that's when the expectations for the young defenseman will really begin ramping up.