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Minnesotans on the Move in NHL Expansion Draft

06/22/2017, 9:30am CDT
By Peter Odney
Credit: Courtesy Gopher Athletics.

Credit: Courtesy Gopher Athletics.

After the hurricane (or sandstorm) of rumors surrounding the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights emerged from the evening with several players with natural connections to the State of Hockey.

The Golden Knights added Grand Rapids product Jake Bischoff through a trade with the New York Islanders, joining forward Mikhail Grabovski and goaltender J.F. Berube in an exit from the Big Apple.

Bischoff, a seventh round pick of the Islanders, spent last season with the Minnesota Golden Gophers and was in the Islanders’ system with the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Washington defenseman Nate Schmidt was selected late in the draft on Wednesday. The St. Cloud native is coming off a career year in which he scored three goals and totaled 14 points.

Schmidt helped the Capitals to their second consecutive Presidents Trophy last season with a record of 55-19-8. A St. Cloud Cathedral standout, Schmidt had played in over 200 games for the Capitals in his four years with the organization.

Both players add relative youth to the Vegas roster, with Bischoff being 22 and Schmidt turning 26 in July. 

In addition to Bischoff and Schmidt, the Minnesota Wild bid farewell to forward Erik Haula and prospect Alex Tuch. Tuch was added as a bonus to the Golden Knights in exchange for their drafting of Haula. The Wild will receive a conditional draft pick as part of the swap. Haula and Schmidt were teammates at the University of Minnesota.

For more on each player, visit Gophersports.com.     

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