It was only a matter of time before Vegas made a move to shed some salary to fit in Alex Pietrangelo’s new deal which is now official. That trade has now been made as the Canucks announced that they’ve acquired defenseman Nate Schmidt from the Golden Knights for a 2022 third-round pick. GM Jim Benning released the following statement on the acquisition:
Nate has been one of the top defencemen in our division in recent years. He’s a dynamic player who competes hard all over the ice. I think he will be a really good fit in our group.
The 29-year-old joined Vegas via the expansion draft and went from a depth defenseman to a core player along the way. Last season, he had seven goals and 24 assists in 59 games, the highest point-per-game average of his career while logging 21:41 per night. He played even bigger minutes in the playoffs at just over 23 minutes a game in 20 postseason contests.
While serving a 20-game suspension for violating terms of the NHL’s performance-enhancing substances policy back in 2018, Schmidt signed a six-year, $35.7MM contract extension of which five years remain on it heading into next season. That deal also contains a 10-team no-trade clause. Vegas is not retaining at all on the contract, meaning that Vancouver will be absorbing the entirety of the deal.
It has been a tough offseason for the Canucks so far with the free agent departures of Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev (Calgary), Troy Stecher (Detroit), and Tyler Toffoli (Montreal) with Braden Holtby taking Markstrom’s spot between the pipes. Schmidt should step in nicely into the spot vacated by Tanev inside Vancouver’s top four.
Both teams appear to have some work to do still when it comes to their salary cap situation. Vancouver has just under $2MM in cap room per CapFriendly with forwards Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette needing new deals. Meanwhile, Vegas is still nearly $1MM over the cap per CapFriendly and that’s only with carrying the minimum number of forwards on their roster. Assuming that they’ll want a spare, that will only add to what they have to try to clear in the coming weeks and months. Marc-Andre Fleury has been a speculative trade candidate for a while now but his market may be thin with most teams have their tandems in place already.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report that Schmidt was heading to Vancouver.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Canucks got a gift. Nice move.
I don’t like it for Vegas. Why not trade Alec Martinez instead?
The money. Martinez is a better defenseman as well. He doesn’t have the offensive upside Schmidt does but he’s more reliable on the back end. The duo of Schmidt/McNabb was a liability for the Knights. Both are prone to turnovers and get out of position too often.
I think Schmidt is underrated. He controls the game with his skating. He should be on the left side, though. I thought he’d pair well with Alex P.
But, looking at their cap…yeah, it’s the money. Knights still need every penny. They are about a million over and need to fill out two more roster spots, even after trading MAF.
Hopefully he is not a Keith Ballard 2.0
You guys have been bit big time in FA. Time you did something good.
How can Schmidt be underrated when he makes 6 sheets a year for the next 5 years. Thats top 3 d money.
Oh gosh. The effin ignorance first Schmidt is garbage and Martinez was the best D man in vgk history. 2nd Martinez is far cheaper. And Schmidt was the exact number to make the cap dead even
Schmidt is highly overrated He was top l line on a team that has four better dman than him. Already got told he’s3rd line in Vancouver
He’s worse
The Canucks didn’t even give up a draft pick in next year’s draft. That’s a steal. It makes you wonder what Don Sweeney is Boston was doing when he has a clear need for a left defenseman. The Bruins easily could’ve matched that or given them a pick in the 2021 draft.
Schmidt is a left. Tanev is a right. Unless Schmidt plays on his weak side does he replace Tanev? Never good to play a guy out of position on a new team.
Yeah he will replace Tans. Shoots left, but plays the right side..
Well done Vancouver.
Vancouver misses on getting OEL and gets Schmidt instead at the fraction of the acquisition cost. Solid move imo
Likely coulda kept Tanev for cheaper and not given up a pick though. Think that’s the issue a lot of Nucks fans are having….
Taney misses 20% of the season and is not getting younger. Love him, but soon 40% missed season is not going to be…missed?
At least some team wanted him so I expect he will want to prove Vegas wrong… Get pick up for Canucks….