Roman Schmidt hasn’t played an NHL game yet. That didn’t stop the Minnesota Wild from giving him another year to change that.
The 22-year-old defenseman signed a one-year contract extension Tuesday, his agent Dan Milstein announced. Schmidt will get the league minimum at the NHL level ($850,000) and $100,000 in the minors. It’s a low-risk bet on a physical, right-shot defenseman who turns 23 next month.
Schmidt is a project. That’s fine. The Wild have enough established blue-liners that they don’t need him to be anything else right now.
A Winding Path Through Three AHL Teams
This past season was a weird one for Schmidt. He started with Syracuse, got traded to Lehigh Valley, then got traded again to Iowa. Three teams. Three assists in 19 games with the Wild’s affiliate. It’s not the stat line that gets you promoted.
But here’s what Schmidt does bring: size (6-foot-5, 225 pounds) and a willingness to use it. He piled up 173 penalty minutes in 98 AHL games. That part of his game is NHL-ready even if the rest isn’t there yet.
Originally a third-round pick (96th overall) by Tampa Bay in 2021, Schmidt came through the US National Team Development Program and the OHL. The Lightning didn’t keep him long enough to see if the experiment would work. Minnesota is willing to wait.
The Logjam in Front of Him
Getting real NHL minutes with the Wild next season is going to be tough. Minnesota already has seven defensemen locked in: Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, Zach Bogosian, Jonas Brodin, Olli Maatta and Daemon Hunt. Jeff Petry is still unsigned as a free agent, which could open a spot if he walks. But even then, Iowa has other guys ahead of Schmidt in the pecking order. David Spacek led the Iowa defense in scoring last season and made the Czech Olympic team for 2026. That’s the kind of résumé that gets a call-up before Schmidt’s does.
So Schmidt is probably staying in the AHL for at least another year. That’s fine. He’s still young for a defenseman, especially one with his skill set. The Wild see him as a physical, defense-first guy who could fill a bottom-pair role someday if everything clicks.
When this deal expires next July, he’ll be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights. So Minnesota holds the cards. That’s the deal for a guy who hasn’t proven anything at the top level yet.
The Wild have about $1.1 million in cap space after this signing, according to PuckPedia, with three more RFAs still needing contracts. That’s tight. Every dollar counts.
Schmidt is from Midland, Michigan. He grew up a couple hours from Detroit. If he ever makes it to the NHL, that first game against the Red Wings would mean something. For now, he just needs to prove he belongs on the ice at all.
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