James Schuldt (born May 11, 1995) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who is currently playing for the

Coachella Valley Firebirds The Coachella Valley Firebirds are a professional ice hockey expansion team based in Thousand Palms, California, that began play in the 2022–23 American Hockey League (AHL) season. The team is an owned-and-operated affiliate of the Seattle Kra ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL). He has previously played with the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expan ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Early life

Schuldt was born on May 11, 1995, to parents Steve and Sheri Schuldt in

Minnetonka, Minnesota Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. Both of his parents were involved in sports growing up; his father played offensive line for the St. Cloud State football team while his mother was recruited to St. Cloud State to play softball.

Playing career

Schuldt played junior hockey for three seasons with the

Omaha Lancers The Omaha Lancers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team and are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Founded in 1986, the Lancers play at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena in Ralston, Nebraska. Previous ...

of the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

(OHL) before going on to play collegiate hockey at St. Cloud State University. He captained the Huskies during his last three seasons there. Schuldt was a

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

finalist and All-NCHC First Team two times at St. Cloud State and during his senior season, he was also named NCHC Player of the Year and

NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year The NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year was an annual award given out at the conclusion of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's Division I hockey conference formed on Jul ...

. On March 12, Schuldt was named to the AHCA First-Team All-American. On April 3, 2019, Schuldt signed a one-year entry-level contract with the

. He made his debut on April 6, 2019, against the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. As a free agent from the Golden Knights, Schuldt agreed to a one-year, two-way contract with the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

on July 28, 2021. In the following 2021–22 season, Schuldt played exclusively with the Sabres AHL affiliate, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

, appearing in a professional high 61 regular season games from the blueline in contributing with 5 goals and 17 points. Schuldt continued his career in the AHL signing a one-year AHL contract with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, affiliate to the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

, for their inaugural

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, on September 22, 2022.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuldt, Jimmy 1995 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey defensemen Chicago Wolves players Coachella Valley Firebirds players Henderson Silver Knights players Ice hockey players from Minnesota Omaha Lancers players Rochester Americans players St. Cloud State Huskies men's ice hockey players Undrafted National Hockey League players Vegas Golden Knights players