On Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights negotiated with free-agent protector Alex Pietrangelo for 7 years at $8.8 million AAV. That put the Golden Knights method above the salary cap, so just now they traded protector Nate Schmidt to the Vancouver Canucks for draft picks.
Per Darren Dreger:
Nate Schmidt is a strong all-around protector who does well in difficult minutes signed to a reasonably reasonable deal for the next five seasons. A good get for the Panthers pic.twitter.com/eeh1plr7sO
— dom luszczyszyn (@domluszczyszyn) October 11, 2020
Vegas trades Nate Schmidt to the Vancouver Canucks for a 3rd round draft pick in 2022.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 13, 2020
Schmidt had actually earlier been related to Florida, though that deal never ever materialized.
The trade will reunite Schmidt with former colleagues Braden Holtby and Jay Beagle.
Schmidt, 29, has actually played 200 games as a Golden Knight since he was gotten in the expansion draft by George McPhee, the same GM who signed him undrafted years earlier. Schmidt right away leapt from third-pairing minutes to a first-pairing role, assisting Vegas along to 2 deep playoff runs in three years. Schmidt was offered a lengthy suspension for usage of a concealed performance-enhancing compound in 2018, his play fell off a bit in 2019-20, though he stays a solid player at both ends of the ice, albeit one with salary-cap hit of nearly $6 million up until 2025.
