The Edmonton Oilers have many decisions to make this off-season, both internally and externally. Arguably their toughest decision will be how they approach the Justin Schultz contract situation. Schultz is a pending RFA, and hasn’t shown any kind of real improvement throughout his three NHL seasons.
Justin Schultz was a solid puck-mover his rookie season, posting 27 points in 48 games. On top of that, Schultz emerged as a threat offensively, and at least showed signs of being decent defensively during that season. Since then, however, Schultz has arguably regressed as a hockey player.
He posted 33 points in 74 games last season, and 31 points in 81 games this year, but he clearly took a step back defensively and on the power-play. Offensively, Schultz isn’t a threat anymore on the man advantage. He’s hesitant to use his wrist shot, and doesn’t possess a bomb of a slapshot, making him a setup man. Problem is, Schultz struggles with the tape to tape pass, especially this season. His passes are all over the place, and inaccurate at best.
On top of that, Schultz has become a complete liability defensively. He makes far too many mistakes, pinches in at the wrong time far too often, and is absolutely atrocious when the forecheck is in against him. He looks almost afraid of the physical style, and backs off the second the pressure gets turned up. It’s a problem.
Here’s the thing with Schultz, it isn’t all his fault. Has he improved as a player at this level? No, he hasn’t, and some of that does fall on the player. The organization is at fault here too, because they set-up Schultz to fail. We knew the second that Schultz was signed that he was going to need work before he became a solid defender, that he would need to be protected.
The Oilers view him as a top-pairing defender, and have force fed him those kinds of minutes for the last two years. That’s not fair to the player, he isn’t good enough and is not ready for that spot, yet the Oilers keep throwing him in there on a nightly basis. That’s not on him, he can’t control his role.
So, how does Edmonton approach this situation? The player clearly is not progressing, but the team views him as a top-pairing option and part of the core. Will Edmonton pay the player based on actual performance, or will they pay him based on what they hope he becomes.
The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson shed some light on the situation on Sunday afternoon on his twitter account, tweeting out the following surrounding the Oilers potential negotiations with Schultz.
The Oilers will offer Justin Schultz a 1 year contract and hope he starts looking like a keeper.
#oilers
To me, this is a solid idea for both the team and the player. Edmonton can’t afford to pay Schultz big time money right now, and they can’t afford to commit to him on a long deal either. The player is not a top-four defender at this stage in his career, and has yet to emerge as a solid option period. Edmonton simply can’t risk that kind of commitment.
As for Schultz, he understands that he has not been good enough. He mentioned on Sunday during the exit interviews that he needs to improve and he mentioned he will be spending the summer doing just that. Schultz would get a chance to show some real improvement, and potentially cash in with a big deal next summer.
If Edmonton elects to keep Justin Schultz, which they should unless a trade presents itself, then a one-year deal might be the best approach. As for cash, it’s simple, the Oilers should be paying Justin Schultz around the same as this season, which was $3.675 M. I’d say a deal around $3.7/$3.8 is the right kind of deal.
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