By Gerard Devine -
He has scored 115 points in 192 AHL games and 15 points in 56 NHL games since leaving the University Of Minnesota in 2010.
Scouting reports on him consistently note that:
But what about his two-way play? To get a bit more perspective on his overall game, I'm going to present some dCorsi data from his two NHL seasons so far.
The data from both seasons put Schroeder just on the right side of "0", showing that he marginally exceeded his expected possession numbers twice. I think it's fair to say that he's not a liability when he isn't scoring and may have some value as a defensive player. Obviously both of those seasons are fairly small samples due to his lack of games, but the numbers are reasonably encouraging.
In spite of him being a decent play driver, the return in terms of on ice goals differential has been underwhelming. Last year was a disaster, with the Canucks only scoring a 42% share of the goals with Schroeder on the ice at 5v5. This can be partly explained by his extremely low PDO as he was one of the lowest ranked forwards in the league in terms of On Ice Sh% and On Ice Sv%. Surely he's due for a bounce back year in 2014/15?
I think the most likely scenario next season sees Schroeder start the year in Iowa as their 1st or 2nd line centre, but there's a case to be made that he could be a useful piece on the NHL roster. He is a natural centre,but his F0% has been fairly disastrous so far in his career so I'm not sure if he's the man you want taking draws. Reading around online, there seems to be some suggestions that he can also play RW, so maybe that could be his route into the lineup. Here are two possible configurations that feature him:
At 24, Schroeder is at the beginning of the typical prime for an NHL player and therefore should be close to the end of his development. I think he peaks as a useful 3rd liner who can step up into a bigger role when there are injuries. Based on what he's done up to this point, I predict he'll score at a low rate but will compensate with a strong overall game.
Hopefully we get to see him a few times this season.
Don't forget to read the rest of our Minnesota Wild Top 25 Under 25 series and look out for new articles every day.
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