Over the past few months, there have been some rumblings that the Vancouver Canucks may be looking to move defenceman Nate Schmidt, whom they acquired from the Vegas Knights less than a year ago. When this first came out, all signs pointed to the team wanting to move on rather than Schmidt himself, who struggled with just 15 points in 54 games. However, there is new information coming up that makes it sound like that may not entirely be the case.
Speaking on the Power Show on Sportsnet 650, Elliotte Friedman said he believes it may be Schmidt who wants out, and thinks the two sides are working together to find a deal. “I think everybody kind of knows where everyone stands, that maybe Schmidt would like to go somewhere else and maybe the team recognizes the marriage isn’t necessarily going to work out for both sides the way everybody hoped,” Friedman explained.
Downhill in a Hurry
This is an extremely disappointing development given all the excitement when Schmidt was first acquired. At the time, the trade was considered a major steal as the Golden Knights were in a cap crunch following the signing of Alex Pietrangelo and were forced to make a deal with the Canucks, receiving just a third-round pick at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in return. Despite the early triumph, it appears that after a bad season from both the player and team, the 29-year-old defenceman may get dealt once again.
If they do make Schmidt available, which appears to be the case, moving him may not be as easy as most think. While there is no denying his talent when on his game, he had a very down 2020-21 season and has four more seasons on a contract that carries an average annual value of $5.95 million. That is a lot of money for a team to take on at any time, let alone in a flat cap era. It’s likely that if the Canucks do move him, they will either be retaining salary or taking on a different player with a significant cap hit of his own. This deal, if made, won’t be nearly as much of a win as it was when they traded for Schmidt in the first place.
Can Schmidt Bounce Back Somewhere Else?
Looking past this previous season, Schmidt has shown that he can be a pretty reliable point producer from the back end. While his career started off slowly with the Washington Capitals, he was one of many players whose careers blossomed when joining the Vegas Golden Knights. In three seasons with the Golden Knights he put up 97 points in 196 games, and posted similar stats in terms of point per game throughout his 47 playoff games with them. Clearly, he has talent. All it comes down to now is whether or not Canucks general manager Jim Benning is able to get other teams management to look past his off year and make a deal for him.
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