MTPS: The Schneider Proxy
From draft day to depth chart limbo, Braden Schneider’s place in the Rangers’ plans has never made less sense than it does right now.
Picture it...
PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, October 2026. Carson Soucy, who has played well for the Rangers to start the season, flings himself at a Penguin skater but misses, crashing head-first into the sidewall. The much-maligned big man struggles to a knee before skating off, now almost certainly under the league’s concussion protocol. Head coach Mike Sullivan and assistant coach David Quinn are faced with a decision.
Do we double-shift Vladislav Gavrikov, who has struggled a bit in his transition to Broadway, and Urho Vaakanainen, who is flat-out bad at professional hockey? Or do we move Braden Schneider, whom the GM has long praised and who the coach earlier described as one of his four best defensemen, to the left side—a position he manned admirably in filling in for Ryan Lindgren last year—and bury Urho?
Super easy call, right? Right!?
That night Urho Vaakanainen logged 17:50 of ice time at even strength. Second only to Gavrikov’s 22:55. To be clear, the worst player on the New York Rangers early this season has been Vaakanainen and he logged the second most time on ice of any player at even strength. Equally confusing is that Will Borgen, who has played really well early on, had the least amount of time on ice at even strength, but we’ll leave that alone for the moment as there is a more pressing need to discuss.
The Rangers keep telling us how much they love Braden Schneider. But gang, if that’s true, I would hate to see how they would treat Braden Schneider if they hated him.
