Canucks: Is Nate Schmidt on the trading block?

The Vancouver Canucks could see one of their top defencemen in a different jersey next season.

Canucks fans learned on Thursday morning via Twitter that blueliner Nate Schmidt has reportedly asked for a trade because he is unhappy with his time in Vancouver so far.

Schmidt was traded to Vancouver from the Vegas Golden Knights in October 2020. Vegas, who received a 2022 third round pick in return, needed to ship out one of their defencemen to make room for free agent Alex Pietrangelo, who inked a seven-year deal worth just north of $60 million total.

Schmidt, who weighs in at 6’1′ and 200 pounds, is a smooth-skating defenceman who is set to make $5.95 million per year for the next four years. This past season, he had five goals and 10 assists in 54 games, down from seven goals and 24 assists the year prior.

This past season, Schmidt averaged 20:06 of TOI per game, ranking fourth out of 11 Canuck defencemen who suited up for the team over the 56-game campaign. Overall, his TOI ranked fifth on the team.

His deployment at even strength heavily favoured the defensive side, with 65.1% of his starts being in his own end of the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. He and Alex Edler were the only two regular Vancouver blueliners to have 60% or more defensive-zone starts. Before the 2021 season, in comparison, Nate Schmidt’s career-high of d-zone starts was 51.5%. Suffice to say, this was not normal for him during his first year in Vancouver.

If we take a look at the other side of the ice, he had 34.8% of offensive-zone starts at even strength. His lowest career percentage before this season was 48.5% in 2017-18, ranking second on the team for all skaters behind Luca Sbisa, who only played 30 games. That was also his first season in Vegas where he played a career high 76 games and averaged 22:14 TOI, which ranked first on the team for skaters.

The difference separating Schmidt’s deployment with Vegas in 2017-18 and with Vancouver in 2020-21 is how the defensive responsibility was spread more evenly by the Golden Knights. Between Brayden McNabb, Derek Engelland and Schmidt, each player had a d-zone start percentage in the 50-53% range.

In contrast, this past season, Edler and Schmidt were the only two blueliners to appear in more than 20 games for the Canucks while also starting in the defensive zone for over 60% of the time. Jalen Chatfield was put in a similar situation with 66.1% d-zone starts, but only played 18 games, while Tyler Myers played 55 games and had a mere 54.3% of d-zone starts. In other words, it seems like the coaching staff were in need of more capable defencemen that they could trust in their own zone, and Schmidt often checked that box, even if it didn’t match up to his previous career statistics.

Here’s more on Schmidt’s struggles this past season:

The Canucks coaching staff clearly put him in a position he wasn’t comfortable with, nor in a role that utilized his strengths as a defender. This isn’t all Schmidt’s fault, as the Canucks defensive depth is thin, which forces the coaches to rely only on a few players that they can trust.

The eight-year veteran is also two weeks away from his 30th birthday, an age where most players begin to regress in quality of play. The risk of injury can also increase.

As much as fans love the animated personality of Schmidt, it seems like moving on might be the best course of action for both sides. The big question that remains – will Vancouver be able to strike a deal to get Schmidt out?

This situation will be one to watch as the Stanley Cup Final wraps up and as the other 29 NHL teams prepare for the expansion draft, NHL Entry Draft and free agency, which are all set to take place this month.

Do you think Schmidt could be dealt this offseason? Let us know in the comments!