Confirmed Signing with Link: [PIT] Penguins sign Justin Schultz (1 yr, $1.4M)

[stepdad gaary]

When he scored this beauty, I was pretty convinced he could be a real positive force. Strange as it might sound for non-Pens fans to hear, this team was crying out all year for a true PPQB type who could remain up high and just put accurate one-timers on net. If he continues to get PP minutes and see an expanded role, I cant wait to see what the future holds.


Man, look at that bomb. At the time I was all like...

a powerplay QB isnt the guy who stands there and takes one timers

 

[Bryanbryoil]

And if that's how he had actually played for Pittsburgh, then PIT fans would not be as happy as they all are that he's resigned.



I guess it's a good thing then he's already shown that that's not what he is?



Perhaps that says more about Edmonton then Schultz? I'm not going to deny that he had some issues there. But he played very well for PIT from the start. Again, there's a reason why most of the PIT fans on this board are very happy we signed him. And that's because he was a lot more than a #6/7D for PIT.

So then why only 1 year and $1.4 million? Sounds like what you pay a #6 or #7 guy. If he was so much more why not give him at least 3 years at say $3 million? I'm not going to pretend that I watched a whole lot of his games in Pittsburgh but you've watched enough of his games with the Oilers to know that he can be a complete train wreck at times. The kid has talent, he tore up the AHL in the lockout and was a solid offensive D in his first couple of NHL seasons. That said he has no fire in his belly and he never put in the work to improve his game. There's a reason why a team like Edmonton that is desperate for a RH PP point man retained salary to move him out, guy crapped the bed horrendously in Edmonton. Good luck to him and the Pens and congrats on the cup win, but unless he finally puts in the work he isn't going from a guy that should be a healthy scratch to a
#3 defenseman in a few months.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

extremely good gamble. if he gets his confidence back this is a kid with the obvious raw tools to be a top pair dman.

sadly playing pro sports is mostly mental. the actual talent difference between the 300 best hockey player in the world and the 1300 best is minimal. can justin schultz unlearn his edmonton trauma?

i remember wayyyyy back when toronto had their 3 cant miss kid dmen... broimstruck and nylund and benning... sometimes you ruin these young dmen and they never fix.

but 1 year at 1.4 for a potential top pair guy is great roll of the dice

I used to think that he had top pairing potential but I just don't see it anymore. 2nd pairing PP specialist is probably his high end at this point. Kid has talent, I went to bat for him a ton on the Oilers board, I just got fed up with him this season, if he commits himself the Pens will be very happy.

 

[Extra Texture]

a powerplay QB isnt the guy who stands there and takes one timers

Correction, I meant to put an OR in there. If I recall correctly, the times Schultz was out there as the QB on the second unit, the puck seemed to move pretty fluidly.

Clearly the video is something different, but something we also needed at times this year. Schultz ripping off that one timer on the left is something we were at times frustrated by on the PP.

 

[Dying Alive]

I used to think that he had top pairing potential but I just don't see it anymore. 2nd pairing PP specialist is probably his high end at this point. Kid has talent, I went to bat for him a ton on the Oilers board, I just got fed up with him this season, if he commits himself the Pens will be very happy.

I think the vast majority of us would be very satisfied with that. We're already pretty happy with him as a bottom pairing D on a cheap show-me contract who can provide some offense on the 3rd pair and the 2nd PP unit. If he progresses beyond that, great. If not, he's still doing his job. He doesn't need to be Letang.

He's made it clear that he likes being in Pittsburgh and with the Pens organization and he loves working with Sergei Gonchar, so I tend to think he will commit himself. If not, it's only a one year deal for pretty minimal money so not a huge issue.

Correction, I meant to put an OR in there. If I recall correctly, the times Schultz was out there as the QB on the second unit, the puck seemed to move pretty fluidly.

Clearly the video is something different, but something we also needed at times this year. Schultz ripping off that one timer on the left is something we were at times frustrated by on the PP.

That was frustrating but after hearing about Phil's wrist issues all season it makes me wonder if this problem will solve itself next year.

 

[Extra Texture]

So then why only 1 year and $1.4 million? Sounds like what you pay a #6 or #7 guy. If he was so much more why not give him at least 3 years at say $3 million? I'm not going to pretend that I watched a whole lot of his games in Pittsburgh but you've watched enough of his games with the Oilers to know that he can be a complete train wreck at times. The kid has talent, he tore up the AHL in the lockout and was a solid offensive D in his first couple of NHL seasons. That said he has no fire in his belly and he never put in the work to improve his game. There's a reason why a team like Edmonton that is desperate for a RH PP point man retained salary to move him out, guy crapped the bed horrendously in Edmonton. Good luck to him and the Pens and congrats on the cup win, but unless he finally puts in the work he isn't going from a guy that should be a healthy scratch to a
#3 defenseman in a few months.

I think it boils down to the fact that he only got 18 regular season games for the Pens, and had some (initially) limited minutes in the playoffs.

I think the guy was willing to sign for much less than his QO because he feels good about the team, city, etc and where things are headed at the moment. And I think the Pens still want to wait and see how it goes. So maybe a cheap, short deal was just he best thing for all parties.

If he keeps up his early form for the Pens, then I could possibly see a 3M AAV deal for a few years next summer. Maybe the case of Ian Cole (looked good right after trade, signed extension and then seemed to regress early season) might have been somewhere in Rutherford's mind.

That was frustrating but after hearing about Phil's wrist issues all season it makes me wonder if this problem will solve itself next year.

That's the first I'm hearing about it, but it would make a ton of sense

 

[Dying Alive]

That's the first I'm hearing about it, but it would make a ton of sense

Not to go too off topic but here's the info: https://www.nhl.com/news/phil-kessel-has-hand-surgery/c-281148308

 

[ImporterExporter]

Edmonton ruined him because it's Edmonton. Period. And largely that fan base, instead of pointing the finger where it was deserved (front office, coaching, toxic locker room), pointed it at guys like Schultz who deserved some criticism but not to the extent he got.

Schultz is a solid bottom pairing guy. Right now, nothing more, nothing less. Edmonton expected him to be a top pairing super point producing OD. Or i should say the fans did and that was probably unrealistic given the garbage situation he was dropped into at the time.

What we saw from him in Pittsburgh was a guy who could mesh very well with our style of fast, puck control, and high shot volume hockey. And he was quite good on the PP especially as a trigger. Often times players are largely as good as the situation they are in. Smaller role, smaller minutes, on a team that fits/plays to his skill set = success. And that's what Schultz had in many outings for Pittsburgh.

 

[ElysiumAB]

Edmonton ruined him because it's Edmonton. Period. And largely that fan base, instead of pointing the finger where it was deserved (front office, coaching, toxic locker room), pointed it at guys like Schultz who deserved some criticism but not to the extent he got.

Someone hasn't spent much time on HF Oil.

The sentiment there, at least during the last few years I've spent on there, is hugely and harshly critical of coaches and management/ownership (mostly this) than any player.

 

[pokey10]

Correction, I meant to put an OR in there. If I recall correctly, the times Schultz was out there as the QB on the second unit, the puck seemed to move pretty fluidly.

Clearly the video is something different, but something we also needed at times this year. Schultz ripping off that one timer on the left is something we were at times frustrated by on the PP.

Show them Dumo's Goal Gm6 of the finals.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Correction, I meant to put an OR in there. If I recall correctly, the times Schultz was out there as the QB on the second unit, the puck seemed to move pretty fluidly.

Clearly the video is something different, but something we also needed at times this year. Schultz ripping off that one timer on the left is something we were at times frustrated by on the PP.

Just having his shot from the point be something people actually have to account for is a huge change from Letang's triple-clutching and Lovejoy's "Intentional Misses"...

 

[Riptide]

So then why only 1 year and $1.4 million? Sounds like what you pay a #6 or #7 guy. If he was so much more why not give him at least 3 years at say $3 million?

Two very simple reasons.
1) PIT just doesn't have the cap space to pay him much more than that. PIT had approximately 2.6m to sign Schultz and Cullen. Perhaps a little less if Boteril is better at math and cap magic then I am.
2) Honestly, despite how well he played and how highly most PIT fans are of Schultz, unless he was going somewhere solely for the paycheck, he didn't deserve anything like that. It wouldn't have surprised me if someone offered him something along those lines, but there's no chance PIT would have matched that. Especially not with Pouliot able to play those minutes for 700k. This was a situation where if he wanted to stay here, he had to sign a take it or leave it contract.

I'm not going to pretend that I watched a whole lot of his games in Pittsburgh but you've watched enough of his games with the Oilers to know that he can be a complete train wreck at times. That said he has no fire in his belly and he never put in the work to improve his game. There's a reason why a team like Edmonton that is desperate for a RH PP point man retained salary to move him out, guy crapped the bed horrendously in Edmonton.

Yep. A complete train wreck is being generous. And the issues EDM fans *****ed about (avoiding hits, bailing on plays, not enough fire, etc) were all some of the things we saw when he first came here. However they were also things that we saw less and less of the more games he played, and come playoff time, we actually saw very little of this (yes, shocking I know). He still makes some defensive gafs (why at times the coach wouldn't risk playing him), and he still does some odd stuff in the offensive zone at times. But overall both of those have been improving as well.

We all know of situations where for whatever reason things just didn't 'work' on one team or another (Daley and Hagelin are two prime examples of this). Perhaps that was the issue in Edmonton? Some combination of him being forced to play more minutes and in a role he probably shouldn't be without having some very good D there to shelter him? Or perhaps it was a system's thing or not getting support from the forwards. More realistically it's some combination of all 3-4 of those, which as time went on, made things worse and worse.

Good luck to him and the Pens and congrats on the cup win, but unless he finally puts in the work he isn't going from a guy that should be a healthy scratch to a
#3 defenseman in a few months.

The good news, is we don't need him to be a #3. Best (or worse) case scenario is we'd need him to be a #4 behind Letang, Dumoulin, Maatta or Daley if one of them went down. He's done that for us several times throughout the playoffs, so most of us are not really worried if he's needed to play those minutes. Realistically he'll be a 4-6 here, which is fine.

 

[Zen Arcade]

Lovejoy shooting wide intentionally worked once.

Let us never forget.

 

[Flyerfan52]

He's a good fit in Pittsburgh.

 

[Peanut]

Great deal for the Pens helps their 2nd pp unit and 1st if Letang goes down. Kid has a great slap shot from the point. Looking forward to watching him develop into a solid NHL D

 

[mpp9]

I honestly hope he doesn't have too good of a season. Just show signs of being able to develop into a #4 like Nisky did after he first came here. I'd prefer to be able to keep him as Daley's replacement after next season and not worry about an expansion team taking him.

Assuming Maatta stays somewhat healthy, Schultz has a pretty damn good longterm situation here playing behind Maatta, Dumoulin and Letang. Very sheltered, but can still make an impact as a PP option and behind 87, 71 and 81 at ES.