Oilers Sign Justin Schultz

There will be no arbitration case for the Edmonton Oilers this summer. The team and RFA D Justin Schultz agreed to a one-year contract today. The deal will pay Schultz $3.9 million for the upcoming season, a slight raise on last year’s dollar amount. This signing should come as no surprise.

We all knew deep down that the Oilers and Schultz would not go to arbitration, mainly because the process always seemingly hurts the relationship between player and team. Not only that, but Edmonton would likely have a hard time getting a favorable ruling, considering Schultz was their most used defender last season.

The dollar amount is a direct result of last season’s overpay by then GM Craig MacTavish, it set the qualifying offer far too high this year, and led us to this outcome.

Personally, I think $3.9 million is too much for a player like Schultz, who has yet to establish himself as a top-four defender in the NHL. That said, it’s only a one-year deal, and the Oilers have the cap space to make it work. This contract is simply not worth getting worked up about.

Schultz is a defined player right now when it comes to his role. Ideally, he should be a third-pairing even strength defender who faces lesser opposition and who gets a healthy offensive zone start push. That can be coupled with a big dose of power-play time.

Schultz is Edmonton’s best offensive threat from the point, love him or hate him, you can’t dispute that. His passing needs to get better, and he needs to shoot more on the power-play, but he’s the top option.

Here’s the thing, Edmonton would be a much better team if Schultz played like a $3.9 million a year defender. If he can show improvement under Todd McLellan, then the Oilers defense, and team as a whole, will show improvement next season.

Is Schultz as bad as the last two seasons indicate? No, he certainly isn’t. I expect better results with Todd McLellan behind the bench, mainly because I think the veteran boss will do something Dallas Eakins never did, set Schultz up for success.

Schultz will improve this season in my mind, the only question is how much. A big step forward would go a long, long way.

Buy-out Window:

One detail kind of lost in translation here? The Oilers have activated a second window to buy-out players. That window opens three days after a settlement happens, so for Edmonton it will be on Saturday. The window will last 48 hours.

The prime candidate to go? Nikita Nikitin, who I think is almost certain to be bought out by the team to open up room for another defender.

More as it happens.