TSN host James Duthie, who first reported on the trade and – apparently – also told Cory Schneider about the trade, spoke with Schneider via phone on Sunday afternoon.

Schneider spoke fondly of his time in the Canucks organization, his relationship with Roberto Luongo and ‘hoped’ that Luongo would continue to be the excellent goalie for the Canucks that he’d always been.

Transcript of Schneider’s comments after the jump.

Duthie first asked about Schneider’s reaction to all of a sudden being moved when all the speculation had been that Lu would be making way:

It was pretty stunning; in this business you know you are always in the mix, you are always fair game. I really felt that having spent my entire career there, having been in the organization a long time, I was hoping to spend the rest of my career in Vancouver and when I signed the extension. But circumstances changed, the cap came down, the salary cap re-capture stuff sort of changed the dynamics of the market. It’s one of those things where unfortunately it came down to this. So while I’m sad to leave a place like Vancouver, a great hockey city, I’m also excited to be joining New Jersey. They’re a great organization.

Duthie suggests that it was he who informed Schneider about the trade, then asks him about his initial reaction:

It was, I was just sort of speechless. Ever since we acquired Lui, I think in 2006 – I was still a prospect – every trade deadline and every draft I was supposed to be traded. So for ever and ever, it was ‘you’re goint to get traded’. For the last year I thought, Ok, maybe this is the year I wouldn’t be traded; you don’t know how to react when it finally happens, you don’t know what to say or think. The more it kicks in, the more excited I am about this new opportunity. Being from the east coast and ot move back east, be closer to family and friends, it’ll be a great thing. Again the Devils have had a lot of success the last twenty years so I’m excited to become a part of that.

Any worreis about Brodeur’s successor?

No I don’t think so. Again, being in a market like Vancouver, trying to replace a guy like Roberto Luongo is a tall task; it comes with a lot of pressure. This will as well, Marty has clearly been probably the best goalie to ever play the game. I don’t think anybody can necessarily come in and replace what he’s done for that franchise. I ‘m just going to come in and try to be me, be the player, the best player in the organization. I’m looking forward to working with Marty, not many goalies early in their career can work with both Roberto Luongo and Brodeur. You’d be considered pretty lucky I think.

Now that it’s over – can put the bizarre sequence of events it’s been into words?

It was just a starnge year in general, with the lockout, a short season, nothing really felt normal, throughout all this he was super supportive and helpful, just wanted the best for me and his career, it’s nice to have a resolution I guess and move on, to go and move on with your career. I’m hopefully that he’ll go and come back with Vancouver and be the goalie we all know he can. I owe a lot to him in terms of how I was handled in my development and in this league, hopefully we’ll remain friends.

Spoken with Luongo today?

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Little bit ya, it was suprising to both of us; he’s been waiting to be traded for the last year and sort of had one foot out the door and then told ‘you’re not’; that takes some getting used to. But again, like I said, he’s been a true professional throughout this whole thing and I’m sure he’ll find a way to, like I said, continue playing at a high level.





