Nate Schmidt’s personality nearly outshines his play for Knights

Golden Knights general manager George McPhee has known Nate Schmidt since their days together in Washington.

That means McPhee has all the dirt on the defenseman.

“When we signed him as a free agent out of college, he was as quiet as a church mouse. Never said much,” McPhee said. “And now, he’s sort of comfortable in his own skin, and not so quiet. But he’s talkative in a good way, in a fun way. And he’s really good for this club.”

Spend a few minutes with the fun-loving Schmidt and it’s hard to believe he could ever be silenced.

Schmidt confirmed McPhee’s tale.

“He’s right. I didn’t say much at all,” he said. “I don’t open up until I get to know people. Then, you open that can of worms and it’s your own fault.”

Schmidt’s outgoing personality made him a fan and media favorite after he was selected from the Capitals in the expansion draft.

Yet, all his witty sound bites — credit him for the “house always wins” line — nearly overshadowed Schmidt’s rapid development on the ice.

He has emerged as the Knights’ No. 1 defenseman and will be matched against the top line of the Winnipeg Jets when the Western Conference Final begins Saturday.

”Truthfully, when I got Nate and I looked at his name on our roster, I thought he was more of an offensive guy that made a lot of mistakes offensively and still had a lot of upside offensively,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “But I didn’t realize how good a shutdown guy he was in a defensive role.

“When we talked about putting pairs together early in the year, Ryan (McGill) talked about him playing because of the way he can skate and his agility back there to play against the top guys defensively. We didn’t know how it was going to work out, but he took pride in that role and he’s done an excellent job with it.”

Schmidt started out alongside Luca Sbisa on the Knights’ top defensive pair and has been skating with Brayden McNabb since December.

Schmidt led the Knights in average ice time (22:14) during the regular season and is logging more than 25 minutes per game in the playoffs.

“I think he’s been unbelievable for us all year,” forward David Perron said. “Really good skater, really good stick defensively. He really focused on the defensive side of things early in the season, and I think he’s building from there. His offensive game is getting better and better throughout the year, and you see in the playoffs, he’s scored some big goals for us.”

Schmidt delivered a backbreaking goal in the second period of the Knights’ 3-0 series-clinching win over San Jose in Game 6 on Sunday.

He also had a hand in shutting down the Sharks’ No. 1 line of Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi, who combined for three goals and two assists in the six games.

In the opening round against Los Angeles, Schmidt helped limit Hart Trophy finalist Anze Kopitar to two points in the four-game sweep.

“He’s played very, very well,” McPhee said. “Again, it’s another example of something that went right and he wasn’t playing a lot with his previous team. I think they had planned on playing him a lot this year. But, we saw something in him that we thought we could use and that would be good for our club. The speed and the mobility and the commitment. And he happens to be a great kid.”

Schmidt posted a career-high 36 points (five goals, 31 assists) in 76 games and has two goals and three assists in the postseason.

Winnipeg’s No. 1 line features high-scoring Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele in addition to speedy rookie Kyle Connor on the wing.

Scheifele leads the league with 11 goals in the playoffs, and Wheeler has a team-best 12 assists, tied for third in the NHL postseason.

“Things had to shuffle out for me to be in the position I’m in today,” Schmidt said. “It didn’t start out this way the first couple games. But it’s funny how things fall into place as the year goes along.“

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.