As teams get eliminated from the playoffs, Braden Schneider’s trade value grows for the New York Rangers. The Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers were both eliminated from the playoffs last night. The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the brink. The Boston Bruins are on the brink against a younger, faster Buffalo Sabres team. All these teams have one thing in common: They have an aging core and a need to address glaring roster holes. This bodes well for a Rangers team that is rumored to be moving one of the more coveted assets this offseason in Braden Schneider.
Braden Schneider’s trade value is tough to gauge
Braden Schneider’s trade value is a bit tricky to understand. There’s his perceived trade value as a young right handed defenseman that plays a physical game and is cost controlled. A former first round pick, players like this don’t grow on trees. However there’s his actual performance on the ice, which has been pretty rough and likely doesn’t match his perceived value. The thing is, how much can be blamed on the Rangers being the Rangers? How much is just Schneider’s skill set?
The funny thing is Schneider’s value is probably more on the offensive side of things. He has struggled mightily defensively, something that shouldn’t surprise anyone that has watched the Rangers over the last three seasons. While the Rangers have not been a defensive juggernaut, these numbers are pretty rough and really illustrate the difference in perceived value versus actual value. Braden Schneider’s trade value is tied to the former and to his age.
Schneider’s microstats tell a similar story. He’s a player that struggles on defense and getting the puck out of the zone, but excels in helping get shots and chances once in the offensive zone. If you’re looking for a quick summary, it’s basically Schneider is a bit brutal in transition from defense to offense and getting the puck out of the zone. Unfortunately, this is where the overall NHL game is moving. All teams remaining in the playoffs excel at the transition game.
It behooves the Rangers to capitalize on Braden Schneider’s trade value now, as opposed to waiting and trading him a year too late.
Good teams with early playoff exits lead to overcorrections
The Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers are certainly flawed teams, but they should have seen better showings in their first round exits. Dallas’ exit can be written off as victims of a terrible playoff format and facing the equally good Minnesota Wild in the first round. But Edmonton faced a ‘meh’ Anaheim Ducks team that overwhelmed the Oilers. The common denominator: An inability to stop the opposition.
This is where Braden Schneider’s trade value comes into play. Again, he is perceived as a shutdown defenseman, and a young one at that. To Dallas and Edmonton, he may represent multiple birds with one stone: Younger, “faster,” and fills a need on the blue line.
Starting with Dallas, they were banking on the corpse of Tyler Myers, an oft-injured Nils Lundkvist, a one-dimensional Ilya Lyubushkin, and career 7D Alex Petrovic on the right side. They also have very few draft picks, as the Rangers also own their 2026 first round pick. There’s a need to re-sign Jason Robertson as well. The problem, of course, is they have very little the Rangers would be interested in, which likely includes Robertson since he too was left off Team USA.
Edmonton is no different. Their RD situation is just as dire, and they too have very little to offer the Rangers right now.
That said, these two teams are important to boosting Braden Schneider’s trade value as they will certainly be involved in discussions. There’s leverage to be had here. There’s also the opportunity to perhaps leverage a team overcorrecting. Maybe Dallas thinks they need Schneider and are willing to offer up Wyatt Johnston to get both Schneider and replace Johnston with Vincent Trocheck. That’s unlikely to occur, but crazier things have happened when GMs get desperate.
There are other teams that will be in the mix, which is why it’s important that good teams with holes on defense keep losing. Dallas and Edmonton were the easy ones. Boston could be an interesting team if they are willing to dangle Fraser Minten in a deal for Schneider.
Tampa Bay, especially if they lose Darren Raddysh, could be a sneaky player here too. Is this a scenario where Connor Geekie becomes available?
This is admittedly a grey area. Neither Minten nor Geekie should be considered untouchable, there are deals to be made with both teams should they falter in the first round and look to overcorrect. Perhaps Braden Schneider’s trade value is just high enough to warrant consideration.
Schneider’s likely destination is still San Jose
Completely unrelated to Braden Schneider’s trade value, I still think Schneider winds up in San Jose. There’s a deal to be made around Schneider and William Eklund as a traditional NHL trade. There’s also opportunity to be creative depending on how the draft lottery goes and how the draft itself goes. I’ve been on this scenario multiple times, but if the Rangers drop to 5th overall and don’t like their options, do they offer Schneider and the 5th to San Jose for Eklund and the 9th overall?
We will know more once the draft lottery is done. Perhaps all this speculating will be for naught. But it’s still fun to think about, right?
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