It’s now a quarter-way into the 2024-2025 season and Utah Hockey Club’s Nick Schmaltz is still one of the top forwards on the team. Known mostly for his playmaking ability, he still has one of the better wrist shots in the league. Despite this, Schmaltz fell into a scoring drought. Before getting his first of the year, Schmaltz had difficulty finding the back of the net for a while. Utah as a team has also struggled to score goals and it’s reflective in their 10-11-4 record this season. Ranked 21st in the league in goals, Utah needs more goal contributions from Schmaltz, who’s on a line with Clayton Keller and Barrett Hayton.
Utah Forward Schmaltz Drought Over
It took 23 games for Schmaltz to score his first goal of the season, but there were many factors that contributed to the drought. The 28-year-old has scored 20 or more goals in each of the last three seasons, but he’s on a slower pace this year. He currently has a very low shooting percentage of 5.5, significantly down from last season’s 13.9 percent. Although the season is still young, Utah is already 25 games in and Schmaltz has just three goals to his name. He scored two against the Vegas Golden Knights and added one versus the Dallas Stars.
Schmaltzy gets us on the board! pic.twitter.com/kI0FaxOj4Y
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) December 3, 2024
In order to score more goals, a player needs to get more pucks on net, thus raising their shooting percentage. Shooting percentage is calculated by dividing the number of goals scored by the number of shots taken. The reason his percentage is low is because Schmaltz only has three goals. Schmaltz has 55 shots on goal and 114 shot attempts this season, so perhaps it’s just been bad luck. However, Schmaltz plays on the top forward line and top power-play unit, so he’s still counted on to score. He now has three goals in the past two games, a step in the right direction and it could lead to more goals in the near future.
Building Confidence
Confidence is important when playing a sport because it has a big impact on how someone plays. If things aren’t going well or the way they should, it’s easy to get frustrated and lose confidence. For Schmaltz, it was important for him to not lose confidence in his ability to shoot during the goal drought. Schmaltz has only gone three games without registering a shot on goal and has had five shots in four separate games. It’s also up to his teammates to set up plays and Schmaltz could end up on the receiving end.
Ending a long goal scoring drought is the best feeling for a forward. The old expression is “getting the monkey off your back” and it could actually feel like that sometimes. It definitely did for Schmaltz and now he can have a little more confidence in his shot. Schmaltz is the type of player that will look to set up plays rather than being the one to finish them. He leads all Utah skaters in assists with 17 and seeing the puck finally go in lifted the weight off his shoulders. The best thing for Schmaltz to do now is to keep shooting the puck and try to score more goals.
What’s Next
Now on a two-game goal streak, Schmaltz just has to keep playing his game. He will continue to be on Utah’s top line and power-play and will have plenty of opportunities to get more goals. He needs to keep the same shooting mentality and eventually the puck could find the net more often. It’s just a matter of picking his shooting spots and maybe a change in luck will help increase Schmaltz’s goal tally.
Main Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
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