Akira Schmid

Last Season

Thirty-four appearances, 16-10-6, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .8925 save percentage with two shutouts — four thousandths better than Markstrom across the same season and the same defence.

His career figure across 82 games is .8984.

The Physical Game

Six foot five and 190, which is very tall and very light. He takes up an enormous amount of net standing still and the technique is built around exactly that: deep, square, patient.

The weakness is the same one his height implies. Plays that move him laterally get him reaching, and the second save on a scramble is where the goals come from.

The Mental Game

A fifth-round pick who has spent five seasons as somebody’s second goaltender without complaint, including a playoff run in New Jersey where he was thrown in and did well.

Nothing about the season suggests a man who was overwhelmed. It also does not suggest one ready to take a starting job.

The Intangibles

The two figures that matter sit together. Markstrom stopped .8832 across 44 appearances; Schmid stopped .8925 across 34. The league median among goaltenders with 25 or more games was .896.

Neither of them reached it.

Florida finished twelfth in even-strength expected goals against and fifth on the penalty kill, and its goaltending came in forty goals worse than the chances faced — worst in the National Hockey League. Two Stanley Cups, both Tkachuks, Barkov returning, and the whole thing rests on a position where the better of the two men was four thousandths below average.

He is 26. If he takes a step this is a contender again. If he does not, somebody else will be here by February.