How Gophers alum Nate Schmidt ‘found his fun again’ as he helped energize Panthers

FORT LAUDERDALE Nate Schmidt arrived in Florida uneasy about starting his tenure with the Panthers Florida coming off the franchise s first Stanley Cup title needed to replace a pair of defensemen it lost in the offseason Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour Schmidt who had played under coach Paul Maurice briefly in Winnipeg was here to fill that void I thought I had it pretty tough the first couple weeks Schmidt noted being like How do you find your way with this organization that just won How do you know where you fit in with this group and what you can do to provide Is it enough Is it the same that they lost All those things are in your head until the first couple weeks you start to settle in and you get into the system and then you start to get in and integrate with the guys But Schmidt at years old requested to get back to his old style of play And he needed to win The Panthers gave him a shot to do both Schmidt has become a big contributor during Florida s trip back to the Stanley Cup Final and now that Schmidt is three wins away from lifting the Cup for the first time Maurice announced the veteran defenseman has unveiled his fun again I m so happy for him Maurice noted I think especially because I go back to the kind of conversations we had this summer of what he was looking for from a tour with the Florida Panthers He s not anymore and he craved to get his challenge back That was the whole point He felt he was a better member than he was playing and he took full responsibility for that There was no blame to anybody else He just thought he had more to give And it took him supposedly three or four months to get used to the way that we play and since that time he s been incredibly effective What I m the majority happy for him is especially in Championship Battle as well but he s getting up the ice and he looks like he did when he was a kid when he first came in the league in Washington He was dynamic with the way he d get up the ice and then coaches beat that out of you and take the fun of the match for you But he looks like he s located his fun again It took time for Schmidt a St Cloud native and Gophers alum to get acclimated He announced it took until Florida played Tampa for a pair of games in Finland that he absolutely felt like he was fully integrated into the squad Related Articles Wild notebook Guerin saw prospects progress at World Championships Wild re-sign Marcus Johansson to one-year K contract Wild GM Bill Guerin American hockey necessities to keep its foot on the gas WJC pre-tourney games slated for Greater Minnesota Who will hoist the Stanley Cup NHL s final of Stars-Oilers and Panthers-Hurricanes has a familiar feel What the coaches talk about is where you are in our system how you fit what your role is and knowing that it s okay just to do that Schmidt disclosed We don t ask you to do more So that s one of the biggest things I felt once I learned that and understand that that s good enough and you don t have to try and be like Oh I need to be playing more I need to do this I need to do that It was like No no you re right where we need you to be Schmidt has been exactly what the Panthers need him to be Not only is he playing well on the ice he is providing levity off the ice Maurice called him a big smile guy You need those personalities in the room especially this time of year when games get tighter forward Sam Reinhart stated Nothing changes about him and it s huge to have personalities like that in the locker room Schmidt has excelled in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final He had two assists in a losing effort in Battle in that battle hockey analytics website Hockey Stat Card rated him the top player on either unit for that championship In Challenge he added two more assists and earned a encounter points which was sixth on the organization He s been playing unreal making selected huge plays for us at key moments defenseman Gustav Forsling declared He s been great Schmidt has reached this point in the playoffs before He reached the Final with Vegas in scoring three times and notching four assists before the Golden Knights lost to Washington four games to one But that unit Schmidt announced was happy just advancing through the postseason during their surprise run to the Final Then in his mid- s Schmidt assumed getting to the Final would be a common experience But it has taken seven years and three unit changes to get back Now he is with a unit that expects to be in the Final and they expect to win When we won the conference final in Vegas it was a much different feel than what we desired here Schmidt noted It was like Guys this is kind of what this association believes that they are supposed to do This is where we re supposed to be