Vegas Golden Knights human Nate Schmidt recorded two assists in Vegas’ win over the Colorado Avalanche the other day. That win was the Knights’ 8th of the season, so naturally they were buttheads about it.
By winning our eighth game today, we have tied the Washington Capitals for how many games they won their entire first season…it's October.
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 28, 2017
Welcome to Talkin’ Schmidt. Let’s talk Schmidt.
First, Nate got a distant secondary assist play on this play, in which Jonathan Marchessault taps the puck for a goal.
Then, Schimdt was the tic in a tic-tac-toe series finished off by Erik Haula.
With their 8-1-0 record, the Knights have the fourth most standings points in the league. Here’s a helpful image to explain that.
No one outside Clark County sincerely thinks the Knights are that good, but they’re really not terrible. They are ranked 14th in adjusted shot attempts and 13th in expected goals. The Caps are ranked 22nd and 25th, but these two teams have seen a big difference in the quality of their opponents so far.
The #Capitals have faced the toughest schedule in the NHL so far, per our SOS calculations. The #Knights have had the easiest pic.twitter.com/bRwcqh9TAr
— Hockey Reference (@hockey_ref) October 26, 2017
In more immediate Nate news, Puck grandaddy Greg Wyshynski got the quote of the day from the man himself, who is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.
Nate Schmidt on getting recognized in Vegas as a @GoldenKnights player: pic.twitter.com/OOTklLQj9M
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) October 30, 2017
Because that image might be too small to read, but also because I want to corner all “eight packs of meat” search traffic, here’s that in text:
I try to keep a low profile at the grocery store when I’m buying eight packs of meat. And my cereal.
(Emphasis added.)
Perhaps Nate’s growing profile in Vegas is the result of the team’s community outreach, which found Schmidt handing out candy to kids.
Schmidt seems to have enjoyed it more than the kids, which is telling.
Finally, in boring roster news that’s just a long setup to a stupid sight gag at the bottom of this article, the Golden Knights have suspended Vadim Shipachyov after the 30-year-old Soviet-born winger did not report to the club’s AHL affiliate. Soon to actually join the Chicago Wolves will be Griffin Reinhart, a 23-year-old defenseman (pictured below) who has had trouble sticking in the bigs.
Thanks for reading Talkin’ Schmidt, a column that is not going away ever, so stop asking.
Photo: David Becker
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