Nate Schmidt has watched — even at the wee hours of the morning in Austria — the Golden Knights stumble to a 7-10-1 start during his 20-game suspension for violating the NHL’s performance-enhancing substance policy.
Monday, following his first practice at City National Arena since the end of training camp, he gave his thoughts as to why.
“You look at how our team is playing and what we did last year, playing fast was our No. 1 thing,” said Schmidt, who is eligible to play Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers. “I think that’s something that we haven’t done as well lately.