Nate Schmidt Keeps Positive Mindset with Florida Panthers After Winnipeg Buyout

When Nate Schmidt takes on the Winnipeg Jets for the first time since they bought him out this summer, he is not thinking about revenge. He is just excited for a fun match-up with the NHL’s best team.

FORT LAUDERDALE — When the Florida Panthers take on the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night for the first of a two-game home-and-home set, all of the chatter in the hockey world has been about how this is a match-up between the defending Stanley Cup Champion and the NHL’s hottest team.

And that is exactly how ex-Jets defensemen Nate Schmidt wants things to be.

“Especially with how they’ve started, I’m just excited for a really good hockey game,” Schmidt told Pucks and Palms. “It helps that both teams are playing well and there’s a lot of excitement around the game and it also kind of lets me fly under the radar a bit.”

Schmidt had every reason to have this game circled on his calendar.

The Jets bought out his contract this summer after he cracked the lineup for just one of their six playoff games before they were ousted by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs last season.

But like his approach to most things, he has taken it on the chin and put a positive spin on it.

“I enjoyed my three years there — my son was born there — but it also led me here,” Schmidt said. “So, I don’t like to consider it bitter there. It’s a new beginning here.”

It was a mindset that Schmidt had to keep when he first got to South Florida.