The Minnesota Wild have locked up Roman Schmidt on a one-year deal, bringing the defenseman back into the fold on a league-minimum cap hit of $850,000.
It’s a two-way contract, so Schmidt will earn that NHL number only at the top level. His minor-league salary for next season is set at $100,000. When the deal runs out, he’ll be a restricted free agent again, and he still won’t have arbitration rights.
Schmidt had been an RFA after finishing his three-year entry-level contract, which carried an $805,833 cap hit. He originally signed that deal in 2021, but it didn’t expire until now because it slid during his first two seasons while he continued playing in the Ontario Hockey League. He didn’t begin his pro career until the end of the 2023-24 season.
A third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 NHL Draft, Schmidt is now 23 and has already done plenty of traveling. He opened last season in the Lightning organization, then went to the Philadelphia Flyers in December in a trade for Ethan Samson. A few months later, he was dealt again, this time to Minnesota at the trade deadline for Boris Katchouk.
The season didn’t produce much offense, no matter where he landed. Schmidt finished with three assists in 48 AHL games across the three teams, though two of those helpers came in 19 games with the Iowa Wild after the move to Minnesota.
At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, Schmidt’s calling card is his size and physical edge more than his point totals.
In Other News...
Wild Had A Painful Reason For Letting Zuccarello Walk
Mats Zuccarellos departure from Minnesota came with more context than a simple free-agent loss. The veteran winger signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Kings, and the Wilds decision to let him walk appears tied to a broader offensive recalibration, one aimed at creating more balance and more speed throughout the lineup. For a team that has leaned heavily on its top talents, the move signals a desire to make opponents defend more than one obvious threat.
The Wild are trying to spread scoring chances around instead of letting one familiar partnership drive so much of the attack, and that is where Maxim Shabanov enters the picture as part of the next wave. There is also the possibility of more change up the middle, which only adds to the sense that Minnesota is still reshaping its identity after moving on from a player who had become a central piece of its offensive structure. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Have Zero Margin For Error With Their Top Offseason Priority
The offseason has already given Minnesota a few useful pieces to sort through, including the trade with Calgary that brought in Olli Maatta and Blake Coleman. Maatta adds a veteran presence and championship experience to a blue line that needed some reinforcement, while the decision to bring back Nick Foligno gives the Wild a familiar layer of depth and stability as they map out the months ahead.
Even with those moves, the front office knows the biggest work still sits on the to-do list. The preseason schedule is out and hockey is still a couple months away, but the real pressure point is making sure the rosters most important defensive piece is locked in before the summer starts to slip away. [Read more 🡒]
Calvin Pickard Signing Raises A Bigger Wild Goaltending Concern
The Wilds latest goaltending move is less about solving a long-term problem than keeping the position afloat while Filip Gustavsson is out. Calvin Pickard arrives with plenty of NHL and AHL mileage, and Minnesota is betting that its tighter defensive structure can help a veteran who has had stretches of competence even if his recent results have been uneven. For a team that has spent plenty of time trying to stabilize the crease, Pickard is a workable bridge, but not the kind of addition that quiets the bigger questions surrounding the depth chart.
Pickards fit will be judged as much by context as by raw numbers, because last season in Edmonton was rough and the Oilers team defense did him few favors. Minnesota is hoping for a cleaner environment and a steadier workload, which could make him look more like the dependable stopgap he has been at his best. The larger concern is what happens once Gustavsson is healthy again, since the Wild still have to sort out how this goalie picture looks beyond the short term. [Read more 🡒]