A lot of the chatter this offseason has been about how important this next year is for Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to take a leap. Those two need to show what they're made of upfront, but on the backend, the New York Rangers will look to Braden Schneider to find another level to his game as well.
Braden Schneider has now been the New York Rangers' third-pair, right defenseman for two seasons. Technically one and a half because he only played in 43 games his rookie year, but this year is going to be huge for the 2020 first-round draft pick.
Mike Rupp went on The Blue Crew podcast and said that Schneider is his "sleeper guy".
Rupper went on to say that "This kid is a stud dude. I love his physicality. I think he's providing some competition for guys playing above him in the lineup and he will. He could do a little bit of everything. This kid could bring some heat."
Below is the full clip:
Schneider could potentially work his way up this season into the second pairing, taking Jacob Trouba's spot on the right side with K'Andre Miller. I don't think this would be the worst coaching decision to give Schneider more minutes. That's no disrespect to Trouba, but the 21-year-old has a ton of potential to be a key contributor to this team.
As the roster is currently constructed on The Daily Faceoff, Schneider is paired up with newly acquired defenseman, Erik Gustafsson. Gustafsson is a bit of an older guy at the age of 31 years old, but he has some offensive ability to his game, which could complement Trouba even if it's on the third pairing.
Schneider has been nicknamed "Baby Trouba" by many people around the organization because he plays a similar style to that of the Rangers captain.
In my opinion, Schneider was one of the more effective players in last season's first-round battle against the New Jersey Devils. He is a young guy with a ton of upside and I wouldn't mind seeing him take on a bigger role in the 2023-24 season.
This is a massive season for the young defenseman.