Schnarr said those factors include the "preparation and practice of being a pro" and the direction Comets head coach Kevin Dineen and his staff do to "trust your ability to make plays."
The Comets, like the big club, have had to deal with Covid cancellations and players being out of the lineup as a result of testing positive. He missed one game due to Covid, a stretch that could have been longer if not for the cancellations.
In that sense, Schnarr's timing was right but also wrong: he was in isolation and couldn't cross the border to return home to Canada for Christmas, though he did manage to cobble together a nice steak dinner in lieu of a Christmas feast.
"Just a couple days of not feeling well but mostly I was just bored," he said, adding a binge session of Yellowstonehelped him pass the time.
Speaking of time, it has now been two years since Schnarr was part of the return for trading Taylor Hall. Since then - two half-seasons in Binghamton and another 22 games in Utica so far - Schnarr has 39 points (15-24A) in 77 American Hockey League contests with the organization. That production has steadily increased since the cross-continent move from Tucson, where he spent his first 22 games as a pro playing for the Arizona Coyotes' affiliate.
The Coyotes took Schnarr in the third round (75th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft. For context, Comets forward Fabian Zetterlund was scooped 12 picks earlier and defenseman Reilly Walsh six picks after Schnarr. That trio make up three of the Comets top four scorers so far this season, behind leader Chase DeLeo.
Another interesting tidbit about Schnarr is his size. He's listed at 6-foot-3 and 181 pounds on the Comets website. It's a nice attribute provided a player knows how to use it. It's not hard to imagine a player or two of Schnarr's ilk - guys who can play down the lineup but skilled enough to see spot duty higher up as injuries/situations call for it - being a fixture on the Devils someday.
Schnarr knows that he'll have to keep improving and evolving for one of those spots to be his.
"It is about finding an identity as a two-way center," he said, "and making sure that you can mold, fit into that role."
Schnarr was not a highly touted junior player and he had to overcome an injury that affected a large swath of his early junior career with the Guelph Storm, where he was teammates with Nico Daws. The potential was always there - the Coyotes clearly thought so - but something clicked three years ago. He led the Storm in scoring with 102 points (34G-68A) in 2018-19 and added another 19 (8G-11A) in the playoffs. The Storm won the Ontario Hockey League title over the Ottawa 67's, a team that had four Devils prospects playing on it at the time, highlighted by defenseman Kevin Bahl. Both players came to the Devils organization six months later in the Hall trade.
With almost three years passed since playing on that championship team, Schnarr gave some perspective that he hopes can soon be applied to his own situation:
"I see some of the same characteristics in this group in Utica," he says. "I stay in contact with a lot of guys like Nick Suzuki (Montreal) and Sean Durzi (Los Angeles)…it's nice to see them (having NHL success)."
