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(SERGEI BELSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS)
NATE SCHMIDT HAS AN industry secret to share, a trick of the trade he’s picked up over the past few months.
You see, beyond balancing that patrolling-the-blueline-in-the-best-league-in-the-world thing, Schmidt picked up a side gig as a salesman during the off-season, buying into ShortSide Hockey Co., a hockey tape and apparel company started by a few friends from Minnesota.
Schmidt stumbled across a surefire sales tactic through his work with ShortSide. It goes a little something like this: find a potential customer and use the gift of gab. Sure, it’s not for everyone. There are those without a penchant for prattle, those who feel no need for chitchat. But the good news is Schmidt likes to talk. Like, a lot.
“Usually I get on the phone and just start chatting and rambling and talking, and I think usually by the end of it people are saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll buy it from you just so you shut up,’” Schmidt laughed.
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He’s kidding, of course. Truthfully, it’s hard to fathom anyone telling Schmidt to pipe down and not at all because of his big-league bonafides. Rather, it’s Schmidt’s gregariousness. He has a magnetism and all-too-rare earnestness to him. A conversation about hockey tape shouldn’t be engaging, yet Schmidt can manage to talk about the process of testing batches, cold-calling coaches and persuading teammates to use the stuff without the conversation falling flat.
He brings that same sincerity and thoughtfulness to everything he does, not the least of which is his NHL day job. That much is evident when Schmidt discusses his summer trade to the Winnipeg Jets and reports he considered using his no-trade clause to veto the move. In his first meeting with the Winnipeg media, he took pains to clarify any thought given to nixing the deal was no slight to the city, team or its fans.
It was simply his desire to step back and think – about moving halfway across the country to a new team, about life in a new city and about how his fiancee would feel about the move. “When guys go through and look at free agency and such, things happen really quickly and some guys always say, ‘You wish you could slow it down because it happens so quickly,’” Schmidt said. “When I was taking a look at (the trade) and looking at all the things, the possibilities, it was, for me, my way of slowing it down, to be able to walk away and just reflect on all the things that were about to change.”
It’s difficult to argue with that justification, and even more difficult when considering the veritable whirlwind that has been the past few seasons of the 30-year-old’s career.
CHANGE OF SCENERY
Schmidt hopes the move to Winnipeg will spur a return to his prior form as a reliable offensive contributor.
(GARY A. VASQUEZ-USA TODAY SPORTS)
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Ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, with one year remaining on a two-year pact he had signed with the Vegas Golden Knights, Schmidt inked his first legitimate big-money, career-making contract, a six-year, $35.7-million deal that he believed would keep him in Sin City for the bulk of what was left of his career.
Included in that deal was the aforementioned no-trade clause, which seemed to further insinuate Vegas saw him as a long-term fixture on its blueline. That wasn’t quite the case. One season into his new agreement, the Golden Knights sent Schmidt packing, dealing him to Vancouver for a third-round pick. Less than 10 months later, Schmidt was headed to Winnipeg. “The first time it was pretty devastating to go through, because you think, ‘I signed this deal, I am going to be a part of this team, we’re the Misfits and we’re going to keep it together,’” Schmidt said. “It was a hard thing to figure out at first. I think as you go through and realize that this is part of hockey, it doesn’t really diminish the fact it is hard.”
MY EXPECTATIONS FOR MYSELF ARE EVEN HIGHER THAN WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE FOR ME– Nate Schmidt
And while he’s not about to make excuses, he admitted the wrinkle that COVID-19 added to matters – from the shutdown to the bubble and off-ice restrictions – made that first transition especially challenging, which bore out in Schmidt’s numbers. Across the three seasons preceding his campaign in Vancouver, Schmidt had established himself as a regular offensive contributor, with his 97 points in 196 games, a hair shy of half-point-per-game production during his time with Vegas.
As a Canuck, his output dropped precipitously, to the tune of just five goals and 15 points in 54 games. “I knew I wasn’t at my best last year,” he said. “A lot of different things go into that with a weird year and frustration sometimes. You put a lot of pressure on yourself to go in there and play really well, and there really isn’t a whole lot of time to get used to a new system, new team and real time to actually get going.”
Having gone through this before has Schmidt feeling more settled this time around. It doesn’t hurt he’s relatively close to home – St. Cloud, Minn., is roughly a six-hour drive south – and was able to settle into former teammate Cody Eakin’s Winnipeg home upon arriving with his new team. He’s getting a feel for the city, for the team facilities, and he’s starting to form all-important bonds with his teammates, which has been made that much easier by the relaxing of some of pandemic-related restrictions.
Schmidt acclimating to his new surroundings is no small thing, particularly given the Jets are anticipating he’ll be a major piece of a rejuvenated blueline to which Brenden Dillon has likewise been added. Not since the halcyon, Western Conference-finalist days of 2017-18, when Winnipeg iced a top four of Josh Morrissey, Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers, has there been this much promise in the Jets’ defense corps, at least on paper. If Schmidt returns to the same form that saw him munch minutes for the Vegas group that ended that 2017-18 Winnipeg team’s post-season run, it’d be no surprise to see the Jets carving a playoff path this season.
Trust he’s aware of what Winnipeg is hoping for, too. “A lot of the time, honestly, the expectations people make, my expectations for myself are even higher than what other people have for me,” Schmidt said. “I expect the best out of myself. I do feel good. I feel like my confidence is back playing with this group, we have a good group and it’s going to make for an exciting year.”
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