Islanders Finalize Contract With Cory Schneider

After nearly three months of speculation, Cory Schneider has finalized his contract with the Islanders.  CapFriendly reports that the veteran has inked a one-year, one-way contract worth $700K.  They also report (Twitter link) that he has been designated as waivers non-roster status which means that he will be placed on waivers on Friday for the purpose of assignment to either their taxi squad or their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.

It was only a few years ago that Schneider was entrenched as the starting goalie for New Jersey.  He got off to a tremendous start after being acquired at the 2013 draft for the pick used to select Bo Horvat, notching a 2.14 GAA with a .924 SV% over his first three seasons.  However, after his performance slipped in 2016-17, his play completely went off the rails after that while he also dealt with lingering hip issues.  Last season, he actually had more appearances in the minors (14) than in the NHL (13) which led New Jersey to buy out the final two seasons of his contract, paying him $2MM per season over the next four years as a result.

With Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin set as the goaltending tandem for this season and the team not being in a position where they will be needing to shuffle players back and forth daily to bank cap space (since they’re using LTIR already), Schneider doesn’t have a path to playing time with the Isles in the near future.  But if an injury arises, he will likely be the first one recalled.  That’s quite the fall from grace after being one of the better goalies in the league only a few years ago but Schneider has at least now secured a contract at the very least.