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Nate Schmidt | #88 | D


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I'm pleased as punch with the deal.

 

Schmidt a top pairing D with a strong all around game. He has playoff experience, and would know our strongest competition in the division better than anyone else.

 

Surprised to see Vegas send him to Vancouver instead of Florida (maybe they backed out when Bobrovsky declined to pay Nate's salary?)

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I am a bit ignorant of how Schmidt was deployed by Vegas. My understanding is that he was the second pairing RD for McNabb and plays more in the D zone so that Theodore on the top pairing can have more O zone time. Is this correct? I ask because many say he is a top pairing RD.

Edited by Maddogy
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This remind anyone else of the Ehrhoff trade?  Jim must have a Cheshire Cat grin on ear to ear!  This team just picked up a legitimate top 3 D-Man for a song who will be a fixture for years!  I don't mind this one bit, he fits the teams cap structure much better than OEL would have, and not as much term.  They can now replace Stetch with Rafferty, and focus their attention on moving out cash.  If they can find a winger to play with Bo, then we are done.

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52 minutes ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

I think what's important about Schmidt is that he's one of the better top-4 D in the league and this time on the Canucks, he's not going to be the best D since Hughes will be the key guy.  The team has never had a true #1, usually platoons of good and very good top-4 D.  If Schmidt can keep up his level of play, then this should be a steal of a deal for the Canucks.  Sure that 3rd round pick might turn into a better player than Schmidt, but the odds of that are low and the fact of the matter is that whoever they would have picked probably wouldn't be a factor in the line-up for many more years. 

 

Schmidt can help the team now and I think management recognizes that this core has probably reasonably entered its window of opportunity.  With Hoglander and Podkolzin waiting in the wings to make the jump, the Canucks have a critical window where their young core is aging out of or have just ended their ELCs (Bo, Boeser, Petey and Hughes) and need to be supplemented both by valuable veterans (Miller, Myers, Schmidt) and new ELCs who can contribute.

 

I don't know whether Schmidt had to waive his NTC to come to Vancouver but if he did, then I think that would be a really good sign too since it would show that he wants to be here.

He is a cost controlled D for five years. this is definitely a benefit for Benning's cap management moving forward.  His salary will not alter so we can plan based on his and other long term contracts signed next summer ie Hughes/Petey hopefully. The more cap you can project further down the road the easier it is to maximize your roster. Definitely a good situation for our club! A great opportunity for Nick too. I'm sure it sucks to leave Vegas but Vancouver may have a longer playoff window.

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