Lightning draft defenseman Roman Schmidt with top pick
Roman Schmidt says he can’t remember much time when he wasn’t on the ice.
The Lightning’s first pick in this year’s NHL draft was seemingly meant to be on skates. Both of his parents were figure skaters, so as a kid he split time between hockey and figure skating until he grew out of the latter around age 9.
“My dad actually had a conversation with my mom around that time,” Schmidt said. “He just said to my mom, ‘He just doesn’t look like a figure skater. He’s too lengthy, he’s too tall.’ Usually, figure skaters are a little smaller, a little slicker. They have to do a lot of jumps and be really good on their edges and stuff.”
Hockey has worked out well for the 18-year-old, who was selected by the Lightning with the final pick, No. 96 overall, of the third round.
Schmidt has grown into a 6-foot-6, 209-pound right-shot defenseman. And the past few years, he’s grown to admire a certain 6-foot-6 Lightning blueliner: Victor Hedman.
“I love watching him play,” Schmidt said. “He’s so good with the puck, so good at both ends of the ice. And being a bigger guy like Victor, I try to emulate as much of my game to his. Obviously, he’s the best defenseman in the league, so he’s definitely one of my idols. I’ve looked up to him for a long time, and it’s quite surreal actually now being part of the same organization as him.”
Schmidt is regarded as more of a stay-at-home defenseman but said he hopes his decision to play with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers over college hockey at Boston University will help him develop his offensive game and the league’s schedule will best prepare him for the rigors of NHL life.
“Just their whole system’s style as a team is very offensive and they really encourage all their defensemen to jump up in the play and be part of the offense,” Schmidt said. “So I think definitely one of the things I want to work on this year is my movement in the offensive zone and my involvement in the offense and just creating chances for my teammates, getting open for teammates.”
Schmidt was born in Michigan, where his mother Elizaveta Stekolnikova, a two-time Olympic ice dancer from Kazakhstan, and father, Derek, were coaching figure skating. They moved to Derek’s hometown of Ottawa, where Roman’s passion for hockey deepened while watching Ottawa Senators games with his dad.
Most recently, he played for the U.S. National Team developmental program (scoring three goals and 11 assists in 45 games) and played for the USA national under-18 team.
Schmidt was ranked the 58th-best prospect among North American skaters by NHL central scouting, the 65th-best prospect by TSN’s Bob McKenzie and 85th by The Hockey News.
Elite Prospects’ scouting report on Schmidt said that he’s “all slow movements until an opponent gets in his range along the boards. Then, he strikes. His closeouts are forceful. He plasters attackers to the glass, pins them with his free hand, and knocks the puck away with his stick.”
Schmidt said his background in figure skating helped him learn to use his edges for turning, stopping and accelerating.
“I think figure skating really paved the way for me to be really comfortable on my edges and turning forwards or backwards and just being really, really good in tight areas and just being really good in transition,” he said.
The Lightning made a trade with the Canadiens to move into the fourth round, where it took Schmidt’s USNTDP teammate Dylan Duke.
The 18-year-old Duke, a top-line left wing for the USNTDP who scored 58 goals over his past two seasons, is committed to the University of Michigan. He is listed at 5-feet-10, 181 pounds.
“He’s a player we’re very excited about, a very competitive winger that has a knack for going to the net,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said on NHL Network’s draft broadcast. “We just felt that he’s the type of player that we call a bolt. He kind of fit the type of identity that we like for our team, and we’re very excited that we were able to move up in the draft and get him.”
The Lightning took physical center Cameron MacDonald with the final pick of the fifth round. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, had 10 goals and seven assists for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.
MacDonald described himself as a player who can score but plays a 200-foot game. He said the Lightning have been his favorite team for as long as he’s been watching hockey.
“They’ve developed some of the best prospects in the game,” he said. “So if I can get to that level, I know they have a great staff there to train me.”
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