Photo: Chris Gordon

On October 12, 2013, Nate Schmidt made his NHL debut against the Colorado Avalanche. A little more than two years later, Schmidt has played 83 NHL games. His journey to the NHL has been unsteady with his coaches trying to figure out whether he’s an AHL prospect, a healthy scratch candidate, or typical third pairing defensemen. But Schmidt is none of those. In fact, he may be one of the better defensemen in the NHL. And with a lower body injury sidelining top pairing defenseman Brooks Orpik, Schmidt finally has a chance to prove it.

“I don’t think we’re seeing anything different,” head coach Barry Trotz told me of Schmidt’s play. “Nate, we felt, we had the most trust in at this point that we moved him up, gave him the opportunity. The things that he does well is skate. He’s skating and getting up ice, getting back on the breakouts, hard on the forecheck, and he defends well because of his mobility and stick. He’s a very effective player for us.”

One hundred sixty-four defenseman had skated at least 200 minutes five-on-five as of Sunday morning. Schmidt’s shot-attempt percentage ranks 14th in that group, sandwiched between Victor Hedman and Alex Pietrangelo. Those two players have a combined cap hit of over $12 million. Schmidt, meanwhile, makes just over $900,000. Schmidt, like most players, does not directly follow many statistical metrics, but he’s aware that he is a darling of those who do.

“It’s not specifically talking about the stats,” Schmidt said of his mentality. “It’s ‘I didn’t give up any chances tonight’ or ‘I broke up a lot of rushes,’ which translates. We have a gentleman that makes sure that we know. We don’t see those stats, but he kind of walks by and whispers in your ear every once in a while.”

With Orpik out, Schmidt has gone from watching games in the press box to getting the most ice time in his career, playing alongside John Carlson on the team’s top pair. Last week against Calgary, Schmidt skated 18:38, which at that point was a season high. He had a monster plus-17 even strength shot differential in the game. A few days later against Dallas, Trotz gave Schmidt an even bigger workload of 23:15. He drove the top duo’s offensive, finishing with three shots on goal and the most time on ice he’d ever had in a 60-minute game. Then Saturday night against Colorado, Schmidt finally broke through with his first goal of the season.

“I think that things have been going pretty well,” Schmidt said. “I can’t not see myself continuing along this path of getting better. As you get older, the game comes more naturally.”

You don’t have to rely on statistics to judge that Schmidt is a fantastic hockey player. He makes impressive individual plays habitually on both sides of the puck. Schmidt’s talent will only become more important as the NHL evolves. Defensemen are increasingly being required to skate and pass, rather than just smash someone into the boards.

“You need to find the hybrids, the guys who are big but can get up and down the ice,” Trotz said, noting that Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff praised Schmidt during a recent phone call. “I think with the way the game’s going, with his ability to skate, to get up in the play, you should be able to get him to the top-four.”

Schmidt has taken a somewhat unusual route to the NHL, choosing to get a college education at the University of Minnesota rather than jump into the minor leagues at an earlier age. That left him undrafted, without an NHL organization behind him until the Capitals signed him as a free agent in April 2013.

“It’s just taken a little bit to find my stride,” Schmidt said of his path.

Schmidt jumped back and fourth between the Hershey Bears, the Capitals and the press box for two years. After the departure of Mike Green this offseason, the Capitals indicated Schmidt would finally get a full-time gig. But then Washington signed Thresh (?) Chorney, leaving Schmidt as an extra for five games this season.

“It was tough,” Schmidt said. “If you go ‘Woe is me’ you lose touch with the team and don’t bring a good attitude to the rink. That’s just not me. I don’t like that. Obviously you’re not happy about, but what can you do, you know?”

Orpik will be back soon. He will likely snatch back his job on the top pairing. Nevertheless, Schmidt has proven himself worthy of a bigger role with the Caps in his absence.

“There could be an argument there,” Schmidt said with laugh when I asked him whether he thought he deserved more playing time. “That’s a leading question. I like it, though! I like it!”