Mathieu Schneider

Did You Know?

• After retiring, Schneider became a special assistant to the National Hockey League Players' Association.
• His first significant NHLPA project involved adjustments to head-shot and boarding rules, alongside former Red Wings teammate Brendan Shanahan.
• Schneider married his wife, Shannon, in 1999 and has four children: Mathieu Jr, Abigail, Micah, and Ella.

Early years

Schneider, the first of two boys, was born in Manhattan to Sam and Aline Schneider. His father is Jewish; his mother, a French-Canadian from Thetford Mines, Quebec, converted to Judaism before their marriage. The family lived in West New York, New Jersey, and later moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where Schneider attended Mount Saint Charles Academy. Under coach Normand "Bill" Belisle, he helped the school win three of its 26 consecutive Rhode Island state hockey titles. After his junior year, he left to play for the Cornwall Royals in the Ontario Hockey League.

Playing career

Schneider was drafted in the third round of the 1987 NHL entry draft, 44th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens. He played his first NHL game on 1987–88 opening night against the Philadelphia Flyers but was sent back to his junior team after four games. He spent 1988–89 with Cornwall and split the next season between Montreal and the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the American Hockey League. After earning a full-time NHL roster spot in 1990–91, he won the 1993 Stanley Cup with Montreal, defeating the Los Angeles Kings in five games.

He broke out with 52 points in 1993–94, topping all team defensemen. During 1994–95, he was traded to the New York Islanders, finishing with 29 points in 43 games. In 1995–96, he recorded 47 points in 65 games with the Islanders and appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game (1996), then was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with Wendel Clark. He finished the year with 54 points in 78 games.

Prior to 1996–97, he was a member of the 1996 World Cup champion Team USA, but a serious groin injury limited him to 26 games. He returned the following season with 37 points in 76 games. A contract hold-out as a restricted free agent before 1998–99 led to a trade to the New York Rangers, where he signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract. In two seasons with the Rangers he accumulated 34, then 30 points.

International play

Schneider first played for the United States at the 1988 World Junior Championships, tallying 2 assists as the U.S. finished sixth. He made his senior international debut at the 1996 World Cup, where the U.S. won the tournament over Canada; he scored 2 goals in 7 games. He was selected for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano but failed to register a point as the U.S. finished sixth. A serious groin/abdominal injury kept him from the 2002 Winter Olympics. He was chosen for the 2004 World Cup but pulled out due to a lack of insurance. In December 2005 he was selected for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin; despite a two-point performance in the quarterfinal, the U.S. was eliminated by Finland.

Transactions

Schneider entered the NHL after the Montreal Canadiens picked him in the third round, 44th overall, during the 1987 draft. Nearly eight years later, in April 1995, Montreal sent him, Kirk Muller, and Craig Darby to the New York Islanders in exchange for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov. His stay on Long Island lasted under a year; in March 1996, the Islanders packaged him with Wendel Clark and D.J. Smith to the Toronto Maple Leafs, getting back Darby Hendrickson, Sean Haggerty, Kenny Jönsson, and Toronto’s 1997 first-round pick (which became Roberto Luongo).

Toronto traded his rights in October 1998 to the New York Rangers for Alexander Karpovtsev and a fourth-round pick in 1999, and Schneider then signed a one-year, $2.75 million deal with the Rangers. The Columbus Blue Jackets claimed him from the Rangers in the 2000 Expansion Draft that June. A month later, he signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings. In March 2003, the Kings dealt him to the Detroit Red Wings for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, Detroit’s 2003 first-round pick, and Detroit’s 2004 second-round pick.

After four seasons in Detroit, he signed a two-year, $11.25 million free-agent contract with the Anaheim Ducks in July 2007. The Ducks traded him in September 2008 to the Atlanta Thrashers for Ken Klee, Brad Larsen, and Chad Painchaud. Atlanta flipped him back to Montreal in February 2009 for the Canadiens’ second-round pick in 2009 and third-round pick in 2010. He signed a one-year, $1.5 million free-agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks in August 2009.

His final trade came in March 2010, when Vancouver sent him to the Phoenix Coyotes for Sean Zimmerman and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2010 draft.