New Jersey Devils Keep Cory Schneider with 7 Year, $42 Million Contract Extension

As if there was any doubt before, Cory Schneider is now the main man in net for the New Jersey Devils.  At 3:32 PM, Tom Gulitti among others reported from a media conference that Schneider has been signed to a contract extension with the New Jersey Devils.   Terms weren't announced by Ren Lavoie of TVA tweeted that the deal is worth $42 million over 7 years. That's a cap hit of $6 million.  Unless new information comes to light, it will be a flat salary of $6 million per year as currently listed at CapGeek.

Today's news will put to bed a lot of concern.  Schneider has two years remaining on his contract when the Devils traded their ninth overall pick in 2013 to Vancouver to get him.   A worthwhile trade provided the Devils would be able to retain his services. Despite superior goaltending performance heading into 2013-14 and during the 2013-14 season, he was never the true #1 goaltender in New Jersey.   Legendary netminder Martin Brodeur received 39 appearances to Schneider's 45.   The two were considered to be equals despite the eye-test and the stats stating otherwise.  Schneider was unsettled enough to publicly make a demand to be the team's start in 2014-15. One can sympathize with his frustration and wonder whether or not he would want to stay.    Thankfully, that's been answered with this contract.

Devils fans should not only be thrilled that Schneider will stick around in New Jersey, but the deal itself is actually quite good.  Currently only five goalies have a higher cap hit than Schneider in 2015-16 per CapGeek: Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, Tuukka Rask, Carey Price, and Cam Ward.  Since 2010, Schneider has had the seventh-best 5-on-5 save percentage in the entire NHL per Hockey Analysis. That makes him among the top goalies in the NHL.  Only the following netminders have been better in that timeframe: Rask, Lundqvist, Brayden Holtby, Sergei Bobrovsky, Tim Thomas, and Roberto Luongo.  Compare the two groups.  Only Rask and Lundqvist has done better than Schneider and will get paid more.  Being close to two of the best in the world is no shame at all. Therefore, he should be paid as if he's in the upper echelon of goaltenders - and he will be.  Considering that the salary cap is expected to rise in the future, $6 million won't take up as much relative space in the future.  The contract takes Schneider to when he's 35, so he likely won't start declining in play until the end of his contract if not after it.  That's definitely reasonable for one of the better goalies in the world.

So I really like this new deal. What do you think of the contract extension? Is Schneider worth it? What do you expect from him in the future?  Are you now confident in getting a #35 jersey?  Please leave your answers and other thoughts about Cory Schneider's new deal in the comments. Thank you for reading.