The Pittsburgh Penguins made one of the few NHL level signings they could yesterday when they retained the services of Justin Schultz. The contract is for one year and will pay him 1.4M. This is a great contract for the team and provides Schultz an environment to potentially build up his stock and cash in next summer.
As it stands here is how the Penguins defense corp. will look heading into the season:
Dumoulin-Letang Maatta-Daley Cole-Schultz Pouliot
The only player of significance that Pittsburgh lost from their Stanley Cup winning roster on the defensive side was Ben Lovejoy. They still have a seventh defenseman who is of NHL caliber. This isn't a luxury most defending Stanley Cup defending champions have. In most years players looking to cash in move on to greener pastures leaving some holes that were not there the year prior. The Penguins are as well constructed to repeat as a team could hope to be.
The key to maximizing Justin Schultz's return to the Penguins will to remember what made him successful with the team in the first place. That was playing against the other team's bottom six forwards while receiving generous zone starts. Schultz led all Penguins defensemen in offensive zone starts in the playoffs and it helped him improve on the possession front.
You can see that when Pittsburgh started sheltering Schultz's role his relative possession started to climb at the end of last season. Being at the dotted line on a fantastic possession team is a good accomplishment for a player like Schultz who has at times struggled in that department throughout his career even on weaker Edmonton teams.
Here are some other people's opinion on the Schultz signing
Justin Schultz (back with Pens) is a solid sort of second-pair defender. pic.twitter.com/SRYWt43dhO
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) July 13, 2016
This is a huge value signing for the #Pens. Yowzers. pic.twitter.com/XZQAfWQ4RC
— Sean Tierney (@SeanTierneyTss) July 13, 2016
I have no issues with the Penguins re-signing Justin Schultz for 1.4M, how could you? I do wonder where that leaves Derrick Pouliot though. He needs to play nightly for two reasons. One, I do believe it makes the team better. Two, even if you don't believe he has a long term future with the team you shouldn't tank an asset's value if you are looking to move on from him. Reality is that NHL GM's love to overvalue where a player was drafted. The Edmonton Oilers handling of Nail Yakupov has sunk the former #1 overall pick's value. Pittsburgh is doing something similar with the former #8 overall pick.
Jim Rutherford spoke to Josh Yohe yesterday and had this to say about Pouliot:
“I really do think this is a big year for him,… Rutherford said. “It’s time to find out about Pouliot.…“In his second season with us (last season),… Rutherford said, “I felt like he really improved. He played some good games for the Penguins. He’s been patient. But with a guy that has his ability, you can’t keep him in this role forever and I’m aware of that.…
“It starts now for him,… Rutherford said. “This is the season where Derrick really needs to push himself. He needs to push someone out of the top six. There is no doubt he has improved. He’s got a ton of talent. But he needs to keep pushing, keep getting better.…
The only way to find out about a player is to play him. Here is to hoping that if Pouliot does all the things that are asked of him leading into the 2016-17 season that the team will indeed reward him with a regular roster spot. I believe that a Pouliot-Schultz bottom pairing has a higher ceiling than a Cole-Schultz one.
So where does this leave the Penguins as far as the salary cap? They are still in good shape.
Pascal Dupuis' long term injury reserved has been factored in and you can see that they still have a 1.5M buffer zone heading into the season.
What about Matt Cullen? The team has an offer out for him and can fit him into the cap but it is a low ball offer. Jim Rutherford again speaking to Josh Yohe:
Well, it has to be at our number, but I’m hoping it still happens. My fingers are crossed. We know how special of a guy he is and what a good player he is. I want to keep this team together as much as I possibly can. We’ve only lost one guy right now and I’d like to keep it that way. And Matt can take as long as he wants. I’ve already told him that. I’m not signing anyone else. It’s either him or Oskar (Sundqvist) will replace him.…
Thanks for reading!