Akira Schmid

This Season So Far

The 2026-27 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

34 appearances, 16-10-6, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .8925 save percentage with 2 shutouts — 4 thousandths better than Markstrom across the same season and the same defence.

His career figure across 82 games is .8984.

The Physical Game

6-5 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 5 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 2 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 13th in even-strength expected goals against and 3rd on the penalty kill, and its goaltending came in 40 goals worse than the chances faced — worst in the National Hockey League. 2 Stanley Cups, both Tkachuks, Barkov returning, and the whole thing rests on a position where the better of the 2 men was 4 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.