It’s the middle of August and there’s a growing concern over the fact that the Oilers have two players still unsigned in Leon Draisaitl and Justin Schultz. These two players are quite literally the only bit of contractual housekeeping the Oilers need to attend to. Once they are signed the team as MacTavish built it will be complete.
In the case of Draisaitl it isn’t overly concerning that he hasn’t formally signed anything yet. There’s essentially no way the season starts without him being signed to something close to the rookie max. As the most recent 3rd Overall selection in the entry draft his negotiation will be pretty standard for the Oilers. It’s clear, from my angle anyway, that they intend for him to play this season. I expect that the club will have something official done in time for rookie camp.
Draisaitl is already in town and if social media can tell us anything it’s that he has already found a friend in Nail Yakupov. The two find themselves all around town taking in all the city has to offer and preparing for their roles in True Detective Season 2. If off-ice rapport has anything to do with on-ice chemistry (questionable but let’s roll with it) then I’m glad the two have a good relationship already. They have a future together soaking up the minutes left over by the Hall-RNH-Eberle line so if they can start off on the right foot maybe that sets them up for success down the road. Who knows?
Schultz not having a deal is a little more concerning. Despite the fact that most on-lookers thought the team over-played Jultz he still factors large to their potential success. The team NEEDS him to take the next step, and that’s hard to do if he’s holding out for more money. He did not have a good year, either offensively or by possession. He played 26 more games than his rookie season but only produced 6 more points (33) and was 22 shots behind the pace he had as a rookie as well. This all despite playing 2 minutes a night more than he did in his first season too.
I still get the impression that the Oilers see a very bright future for Schultz, as one tough sophomore year for an NHL defenseman shouldn’t be enough to write him off. After all, he has still only played 122 games in the league. Because of that he is still very much part of the team’s core. The problem is that he likely wants to get paid like the other core members. The difference being that they were already producing, were younger, and have higher pedigree than Schultz.
There is pretty much no sane argument that could convince me Justin Schultz should get more than 4M dollars a year and even that is very high for a player in his situation. He took a step back and is under club control. This is classic “Bridge contract… territory. This isn’t even like the PK Subban bridge which the Habs forced down his throat even after playing highly successful seasons. I don’t know what the Schultz camp is requesting, but the longer this drags on the uglier this situation has the potential of getting.
Like I said earlier, the Oil need Jultz to take a big step next year. They added actual NHL bodies but none of them have his offensive potential. And with an easier workload on a team that has beefed up its depth there’s a very real chance that he can get right back into everybody’s good books and earn that Core Oiler Contract.
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