Looking at Cory Schneider’s evolution into a franchise goaltender.

Have you ever been in a pre-season draft where there is a run of goalie selections right after you make your pick in the first round? Depending on the size of the league it could mean that you do not have another pick for a long time and there could be many stoppers off the board before you are on the clock once again. This could leave you scrambling to make a good value pick sometime soon – probably not a goalie with a big name or a long history of fantasy dominance but a guy that nonetheless can deliver the goods.

In many setups a guy like Cory Schneider could be one of those guys that can be a great value pick. Of course, his team, the New Jersey Devils, are not very good at the moment and that might scare away some of your rivals. But as we will see Schneider is still able to deliver excellent averages while his frequency of starts help boost his other totals even on a poor squad.

Let's take some time to break down Schneider's effectiveness in a number of different league types. As always, each type of league will provide different answers. For reference, here are his numbers this year:

Points-only

Typically, points-only leagues will count wins alone or wins plus shutouts. This is where Schneider's value is at its weakest due to the lack of quality in front of him at the moment. Even in a salary cap era with a lot of parity among the teams, being on the 24^th-ranked Devils is not going to make it easy to pick up wins and shutouts. This is similar to the situation that Roberto Luongo currently faces in Florida.

With that said, Schneider still has some sneaky value in this setting. Despite the ranking of his team in the standings, he still ranks 14^th in wins and 10^th in shutouts. Both figures are much higher than you might expect due to Schneider already having played 60 games, which could turn into 70 appearances by year's end.

In addition, you simply cannot discount the history of the Devils. Even though things look bleak right now, they have a history of putting together some excellent teams. There is always a chance that they surprise us yet again and if they do Schneider will be right there with them almost every night. Consider this a bit of hidden upside that Schneider possesses.

Multi-category

Multi-category leagues are where Schneider shines the brightest. While wins and shutouts are typically still in these formats, the addition of categories such as GAA, save percentage and total saves can push Schneider close to the elite level.

Again, Schneider possesses some hidden value that can make him an elite fantasy goalie if the Devils can turn things around as a team.  With the rest of his categories already among the best, he would become a goalie that is top-notch across the board.

Keeper value

At just 28 years of age and entering his prime years, Schneider is an excellent goalie to own in keeper leagues. Even though his team is currently poor and may be in for a couple lean years, he has already shown the ability to produce upper-tier numbers. An improved Devils squad could easily push Schneider into the top five.

In addition, based on Schneider's history we can count on him to continue his pace of peripheral numbers. Consider his career stats since becoming a full-time NHLer back in 2011:

Here we see a very obvious pattern – a GAA of 2.23 or better and a save percentage of .921 or better in each year. This level of reliability is rare. He has also been able to accomplish these feats for two different teams including being dealt to a team in decline. Furthermore, he has done all of this in a variety of roles, starting with being Luongo's backup in Vancouver, then as Martin Brodeur's sidekick and now as one of the most utilized goalies in the NHL.