Rumor: Goaltender Cory Schneider is headed to New York.

It sounds like goaltender Cory Schneider is headed to New York to reunite with a familiar face.

Although nothing has been made official as of yet, an early report from National Hockey League insider Pierre LeBrun indicates that Schneider is in the process of finalizing a deal with the New York Islanders, taking yet another goaltender off the unrestricted free agent market. Thus far no word on what the term of this deal or the financials of this deal might look like.

Schneider is coming off of an extremely underwhelming season and frankly this signing comes as something of a big surprise to me. The veteran goaltender has struggled over the last several seasons but this year he appeared in just 13 NHL games for the Devils, posting an abysmal 3.53 goals against average and a really bad .887 save percentage over that stretch of play. He also made 14 appearances at the American Hockey League level with the Binghamton Devils, recording a 2.71 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

It is a curious signing to be sure but there is a connection here. Schneider's career began under the leadership of Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello who at the time was at the helm of the New Jersey Devils' organization. Aside from that connection however I do struggle to see what motivates this signing on the part of the Islanders. Perhaps this will be a two-way deal with the expectation that Schneider will be spending significant time at the AHL level this season? 

Update: Craig Custance reports this is a 1 year deal, but no further details at this time. There's no mention of this being a two way deal from Custance, but he also doesn't say this is one way so we're waiting on something more concrete before making a declaration.