Team USA opens up their pre-tournament schedule on Friday when they take on Team Canada.
If their opening lineup is any indication of what we'll see when the tournament begins, and there's no reason to believe it won't be, we probably won't be seeing much of Cory Schneider during the World Cup.
Jonathan Quick is scheduled to start, for whatever reason, while Ben Bishop is slated to backup. That means Schneider will be a healthy scratch.
Quick will start Friday and play half the game or two periods. Bishop will play the rest.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) September 8, 2016
Schneider breaking camp as the No. 3 goaltender, to me, is pretty absurd. Over the last three seasons he is 2nd in the NHL (behind Carey Price) with a .924 save percentage. Schneider is 3rd in Quality Start percentage over the same span. Neither Quick or Bishop rank ahead of Schneider in either category so it's clear he is the best American goaltender. How he finds himself as the odd man out is beyond me.
The Devils are surely happy with the way things appear to be playing out - Schneider playing in the World Cup and suffering an injury would essentially end the Devils' season - but Schneider has been spectacular in recent years and deserves to be rewarded for his performance.