Confirmed with Link: Justin Schultz to Seattle

[Fistfullofbeer]

Click to read more...

 

[AarG]

Does this mean no to Klingberg? Anyways a good signing!

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Wasn't this something Sound of Hockey had projected? Not too shabby. Maybe this means we don't go for Klingberg.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Does this mean no to Klingberg? Anyways a good signing!

Yeah, I think it might.

 

[The Marquis]

That's a decent signing. I think it might mean no Klingberg... 2x3 is fair.

 

[Gniwder]

Do not like. I grew up a Caps fan and still watch them when I have time. Schultz can have some god awful games, like the -3 and -4 games listed below. A whole bunch of -2 games. He's really inconsistent in his own zone, can take a lot of unnecessary chances in the o-zone and get caught. You'll also notice he got his ice time cut in a number of games.

Given what I saw with the Kraken D last season, he's bound to replicate a lot of the defensive mistakes this team made. It's obviously just a stop gap signing for a couple of years, but the team will need someone more consistent in the long run.

Game log:

Justin Schultz, Seattle Kraken, D - 2023-24 Game Log - NHL

Get up-to-date stats for every game played by Justin Schultz during the 2023-24 NHL season on CBS Sports.

www.cbssports.com

 

[Soul Rebel]

There's a RHD for us. Placeholder until the Evans' and Ottavainens' of the world are ready to come up in a couple of years.

Really hoping we stay away from Klingberg if the $$ he's asking for is true.

 

[coastal_nuck]

Hmmm not sure how I feel about Justin but the term isn't too bad. Only 2 years so we can walk away from this if he doesn't pan out.

 

[AarG]

now official!

 

[Irie]

This move is puzzling to me.

I see Schultz as a 32 year old in decline D, who likely is not an upgrade over Soucy in the #4 spot RD, even though he's a right hand shot.

That means he's likely a 3rd pairing candidate, where the Kraken have Borgen and C. Fleury, both of whom where fine as 3rd pairing guys that aren't flashy, but got the job done. Borgen actually started to play above a #6 at the end of the season with 6 points in the last 16 games after getting a fulltime role once Gio was traded.

The Kraken have a lot of positions they could use upgrading, but 3rd pairing RHD was one where I felt they actually were decently covered.

They really should be in the market for a 3rd pairing LHD, unless playing Soucy there is the plan, in which case, planning to play Schultz in the top 4 is quite questionable, imo.

Does this move make sense to anyone else? If so, please let me know what I am missing.

 

[The Marquis]

Not really, but maybe he fits the system.

 

[Irie]

Not really, but maybe he fits the system.

The system of inconsistent defending? That does sound like a perfect fit

But seriously, now you have 7 D signed, and you still need a 3rd pairing LHD.

Maybe they are thinking of keeping one of the kids up, and want more "veteran" mentors?

Or... Maybe this move has Botterill written all over it. In 2019, Sabres already had Bogosian and Risto on the right and Botts traded for Colin Miller RHD, Brandon Montour RHD and Henri Jokiharju RHD in the off-season. Made about as much sense then, too. Maybe it is a RHD fetish? Is that a thing?

Very puzzling indeed.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

The system of inconsistent defending? That does sound like a perfect fit

But seriously, now you have 7 D signed, and you still need a 3rd pairing LHD.

Maybe they are thinking of keeping one of the kids up, and want more "veteran" mentors?

Or... Maybe this move has Botterill written all over it. In 2019, Sabres already had Bogosian and Risto on the right and Botts traded for Colin Miller RHD, Brandon Montour RHD and Henri Jokiharju RHD in the off-season. Made about as much sense then, too. Maybe it is a RHD fetish? Is that a thing?

Very puzzling indeed.

I thought Dunn, Soucy and Oleksiak are all LD's? Capfriendly does show all 3 as LD/RD but all 3 are left shooting D-men.

Now if we do end up signing Klingberg as well, then we have 4 RD's in Schultz. Larsson, Klingberg and Borgen but I expect them to have Borgen mainly as the 7th D. Evans is an LD so with Evans-Borgen we get coverage on both sides in case of injuries. Evans is waiver exempt as well.

Cale Fleury is a RD as well.

 

[Irie]

I thought Dunn, Soucy and Oleksiak are all LD's? Capfriendly does show all 3 as LD/RD but all 3 are left shooting D-men.

Soucy is a left hand shot, yes, but he played by and far on the right last season, and almost exclusively on the right in Minnesota's top four the year before.

Assuming Soucy is not bumping Oleksiak or Dunn, does he move to 3rd pairing?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Soucy is a left hand shot, yes, but he played by and far on the right last season, and almost exclusively on the right in Minnesota's top four the year before.

Assuming Soucy is not bumping Oleksiak or Dunn, does he move to 3rd pairing?

If .. and big if, we do end up with Klingberg, I expect them to roll with:

Oleksiak-Klingberg
Dunn-Larsson
Soucy-Schultz
Borgen

That is actually a pretty respectable D in my opinion. Every pairing has some kind of a PMD.

Without Klingberg, I would expect something like:

Oleksiak-Schultz
Dunn-Larsson
Soucy-Borgen
Evans

There is also a chance that Soucy (or Borgen) get moved. I would not be shocked to see Soucy moved for some more winger help. Or just picks.

 

[Gniwder]

They really should be in the market for a 3rd pairing LHD, unless playing Soucy there is the plan, in which case, planning to play Schultz in the top 4 is quite questionable, imo.

Does this move make sense to anyone else? If so, please let me know what I am missing.

Schultz got bumped down to third pair by Nick Jensen. That's pretty bad. (You can compare TOI for the last 2 seasons)

No, it doesn't make much sense unless you get in a hot tub and travel to 2017.

 

[Irie]

If .. and big if, we do end up with Klingberg, I expect them to roll with:

Oleksiak-Klingberg
Dunn-Larsson
Soucy-Schultz
Borgen

That is actually a pretty respectable D in my opinion. Every pairing has some kind of a PMD.

Without Klingberg, I would expect something like:

Oleksiak-Schultz
Dunn-Larsson
Soucy-Borgen
Evans

There is also a chance that Soucy (or Borgen) get moved. I would not be shocked to see Soucy moved for some more winger help. Or just picks.

I'm not a huge fan of the philosophy that having a puck mover + a stay at home D on every line equals guaranteed success, no matter how good it looks on paper. Everyone has a role and D pairing chemistry is really important. Having a good PP Defensemen and a couple of good PK guys is key. Fill the other slots with two way players that can eat minutes and not cost the team defensively and you have a foundation that works.

Adding Klingberg and Schultz who struggle in zone coverage to a team who's forward core loses assignments regularly feels like a recipe for disaster to me. I am also a bit concerened about having Schultz logging big minutes paired with Oleksiak, at this stage of his career, i think that s asking too much.

AS far as 7th D, Much rather see C FLeury back and not have Evans jump straight to the NHL in a reserve role. He should be playing big minutes in the minors if Seattle wants him to properly develop.

 

[Gniwder]

Adding Klingberg and Schultz who struggle in zone coverage to a team who's forward core loses assignments regularly feels like a recipe for disaster to me. I am also a bit concerened about having Schultz logging big minutes paired with Oleksiak, at this stage of his career, i think that s asking too much.

Pretty much the way I see at it.

The only explanation is that he couldn't sign a better one and settled for what he can get. 2 yrs x $3M will not have any long term impact on this team whatsoever. He will cost this team a few games this season though. When he's off his game he is absolutely horrendous.

 

[The Marquis]

Pretty much the way I see at it.

The only explanation is that he couldn't sign a better one and settled for what he can get. 2 yrs x $3M will not have any long term impact on this team whatsoever. He will cost this team a few games this season though. When he's off his game he is absolutely horrendous.

Unfortunately, the question is, who is he replacing? In the latter part of the season, it’s probably Cholowski, Fleury, Fleury. The extra… but looking at the whole season it’s Lauzon, whose penalties cost us a couple games. I’m betting it’s even… unfortunately we don’t have a replacement for Gio. That’s the trick.

 

[Irie]

Unfortunately, the question is, who is he replacing? In the latter part of the season, it’s probably Cholowski, Fleury, Fleury. The extra… but looking at the whole season it’s Lauzon, whose penalties cost us a couple games. I’m betting it’s even… unfortunately we don’t have a replacement for Gio. That’s the trick.

Soucy replaces Gio, the way he did down the stretch after the TDL.... at least in the situations where Gio was playing the right side, Soucy was honestly better in that role. Gio had some good games playing the left side, but he was pretty underwhelming on his offhand by my evaluation.

The top four of Oleksiak, Soucy, Larsson and Dunn was good enough to keep the team in most games late in the season. The breakdowns were way more often than not forwards missing their assignments and leaving one D to cover two or three players in front of the net. (with the exception of Dunn and larsson allowing players to get behind them for a breakaway a time or two ever night they were paired together. More familiarity and communication should increase their chemistry and solve that... hopefully).

And if that is the case, then Schultz replaces Borgen, which I think is a downgrade. Borgen has a lot of untapped potential still, and he has awareness and the physical tools that he is going to be a good #4 if given the ice-time. Hate to see them sit him again for a declining vet in a season that should be another development year.

 

[GrungeHockey]

I'm not a big fan of this move. He's basically about as good as Lauzon was though so in essence we got a 2nd rounder for free or for making our D a little older

To the above, I'm not sure Borgen has any more upside. That's been the word on him for years and yet it never seems to arrive. I think it may just be he is what he is and that's it. Depth guy no more.

 

[Irie]

I'm not a big fan of this move. He's basically about as good as Lauzon was though so in essence we got a 2nd rounder for free or for making our D a little older

To the above, I'm not sure Borgen has any more upside. That's been the word on him for years and yet it never seems to arrive. I think it may just be he is what he is and that's it. Depth guy no more.

I'm not sure we should lump the Lauzon return into this signing. Keeping them as two totally seperate transactions won't taint the positive return of last year's TDL

As for Borgen, I don't think a young defenseman that has only played 50 NHL games over a couple of years, and most of them not in a row, could be viewed as a player that has peaked.

If he were a LHD, he would have gotten time with the Sabres earlier, but Buffalo had RHD in Bogosian, Montour, Ristolainen, Miller and Jokiharju on the roster, and Borgen was waiver exempt.

Borgen was one of only a couple of Kraken players with a postive +/-.

There was only one game I believe where Hakstol paired Dunn with Borgen, and they were the best pairing for Seattle that night. But of course Hakstol sat Borgen the next day to play Lauzon. Go figure. I would love to see more of that pairing this season, as Borgen has the skating to keep up with Dunn, and they moved the puck really well together. Most of the season we saw Borgen with Lauzon or Fleury, Pair him with a mobile defensman with above average on ice awareness and I guarantee you will like the results.

 

[SwedishFire]

Do not like. I grew up a Caps fan and still watch them when I have time. Schultz can have some god awful games, like the -3 and -4 games listed below. A whole bunch of -2 games. He's really inconsistent in his own zone, can take a lot of unnecessary chances in the o-zone and get caught. You'll also notice he got his ice time cut in a number of games.

Given what I saw with the Kraken D last season, he's bound to replicate a lot of the defensive mistakes this team made. It's obviously just a stop gap signing for a couple of years, but the team will need someone more consistent in the long run.

Game log:

Justin Schultz, Seattle Kraken, D - 2023-24 Game Log - NHL

Get up-to-date stats for every game played by Justin Schultz during the 2023-24 NHL season on CBS Sports.

www.cbssports.com

Yes. As an oilers fan, we had him too.
Bad passing in the zone, can get stressed by attackers in his own end.
A lot of bad games, where he ends minus.
Almost a minus player every year.
Is a good skater, has some hands.
But...
We want to trade Tyson Barrie to free up cap, who is significant better. 1,5m$ higher cap but overall more solid.
Ypu could have him almost for nothing, like a 3rd liner or a defenseman.

To bad ypu atent a GM

 

[Soul Rebel]

Sounds like a disappointing depth defenseman.

Depending on what Klingberg gets, I'd rather have used Schultz' $3M AAV to soften the blow of signing Klingberg. The latter is 2 years younger, a former All-Star and has chemistry with Big Rig and Larsson. If Klingberg signs for anything less than $7M per, the Schultz signing will be regrettable. Unless we plan on using that additional $4M to absorb a contract for assets.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Sounds like a disappointing depth defenseman.

Depending on what Klingberg gets, I'd rather have used Schultz' $3M AAV to soften the blow of signing Klingberg. The latter is 2 years younger, a former All-Star and has chemistry with Big Rig and Larsson. If Klingberg signs for anything less than $7M per, the Schultz signing will be regrettable. Unless we plan on using that additional $4M to absorb a contract for assets.

Signing Schultz means staying away from Klingberg and that should turn out to be a good thing.

Klingberg's already on the decline, will be 30 by the start of the season and will most likely sign a deal that the team that signs him to it will regret about halfway through, IMO.