Suspended Knight Nate Schmidt to practice in Austria — as a Capital
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 Wednesday for Vienna, Austria.
The ex-Washington Capital will practice with the Vienna Capitals, an Austrian professional team, during his suspension and return before 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. “They thought having an NHL player who can skate as well as Nate does could really elevate the pace of their practices. So if he goes over there and works his tail off it’ll be real good for him and good for them.”
Eakin/Tuch updates
McPhee said forwards Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch, who are both on injured reserve with lower-body injuries, are “more week to week than day to day.”
The Knights have an open roster spot with both sidelined, but McPhee said he doesn’t plan to call anyone up right now. Tuch has not practiced the past two days while Eakin has skated with a non-contact jersey.
“I feel good. Just working on getting my legs back. Just a day to day kind of thing,” Eakin said. “I’ve got something I’m shooting for (timeline-wise) but it’s just one of those things where you take it as it comes and go from there.”
Bischoff wins job
McPhee confirmed that defenseman prospect Jake Bischoff will start the season with the Knights after scoring four points in four preseason games.
The 24-year-old took advantage of the absence of Schmidt and won a job.
“He’s had a very good camp and it’s a nice surprise,” McPhee said. “We liked him a lot last year. He’s a player that you have to watch a lot to really appreciate.”
Blue line babies
Defenseman Jonathan Merrill was back at practice after taking a personal day Tuesday for the birth of his daughter, Jolie.
He was paired with defenseman Nick Holden, whose wife also gave birth during camp.
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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
Hockey days are here again
To celebrate the start of the NHL regular season the Golden Knights released a video tribute to the "Happy Days" theme song from the 1970s television series entitled "Hockey Days."
The video features original lyrics and contains the iconic spinning record featured in the "Happy Days" intro. Almost every member of the Knights' roster is featured goofing around with each other and making silly poses for the camera.
