After a one-year hiatus Nate Schmidt is going to don a Capitals’ sweater again.
He’ll just have to travel almost 6,000 miles to do so.
The Golden Knights defenseman, who is suspended the first 20 games of the season for a violation of the league substance abuse program, left for Vienna, Austria on Wednesday.
The ex-Washington Capital will practice with the Vienna Capitals, an Austrian professional team, during his suspension and return prior to becoming eligible to play on Nov. 18 at Edmonton. Schmidt will not play in any games with the Capitals.
“We tried to put our heads together with Nate to see if there was a place to go to and there were some options and this one seemed to work for Nate,” general manager George McPhee said.