The Winnipeg Jets are only mere weeks away from opening up training camp and just over a month away from kicking off their 2021-2022 regular season.
During the offseason, the Jets front office made a huge trade when they acquired veteran defenseman, Nate Schmidt from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2022 third-round draft pick.
As we look ahead to the upcoming season, there are two questions regarding Schmidt that we can look further in-depth at:
1) Where does Schmidt fit in on the Jets’ depth chart? and; 2) What should Winnipeg supporters expect from Schmidt?
Nate Schmidt is a dynamic option for the Winnipeg Jets
There are many options on where to place Schmidt on the depth chart for the Jets. I do think we will see Brenden Dillon on a pair with Neal Pionk which then leaves Schmidt the opportunity to play on a pair with either Josh Morrissey, Logan Stanley, or Dylan DeMelo.
We could see Schmidt on a pair with Morrissey to start the season. Over his career, the thirty-year-old has been known to be extremely strong in the defensive zone. Schmidt has only finished with a minus plus/minus rating twice in his eight-year career.
Schmidt is not someone who scores often, in fact, he has never scored more than ten goals in a season, but he makes this up with his terrific vision as he is a defenseman who picks up many assists. He has 121 assists in 450 games played.
With that being said, we could see Schmidt on the Jets’ second powerplay unit. Especially with the fact that the Jets often utilize four forwards and one defenseman on their top powerplay, the Jets second unit will most likely have three forwards and two defensemen and there is a great chance Schmidt will be one of those players as his skill set can be an asset to the Jets powerplay.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Who do you think Nate Schmidt should play on a defensive pairing with? Leave your comments below!
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