Confirmed with Link: Capitals sign Justin Schultz to 2 year deal 4 Mil AAV

[jfc64]

Lundqvist: - I accept a lower salary as long as you guys put the rest of the cap space on Justin Schultz.

 

[g00n]

I guess we'll see. But it's strange to have this 4M deal come out of left field when Holtby walked for 4.5M.

 

[Carlzner]

Wish Mac had some balls and went after Savard who is a total stud

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Puke.

 

[caps4cup]

Johnson was his second most common D partner last year so perhaps a sliver of hope. Still don't really see the upside here and he's fairly consistently been a poor possession D IINM. They need puck movement this makes the Gustafsson idea seem like a star.

His numbers away from Jack Johnson the last 2 years are perfectly fine as a 2nd pair RHD. He brings a puck moving element that the defense is sorely lacking behind Orlov and Carlson. It has potential to be a decent deal but as of now it doesn’t look great, since with the 4mm AAV he is being paid much more than he has been worth with his play the last 2 years.

 

[DCRedhawk21]

My immediate reaction is that adding him to the top 4 isn't really an upgrade over Jensen there based on Schultz play since his ankle got crushed. But the numbers above on with and without JJ give some context to consider I guess.

I also want to see what else is done, since it seems to necessitate some salary cap clearing (I would think even with Kempny LTIR'ed but maybe they can fit everything right under the cap with him on LTIR).

 

[Coldplay619]

I really wanted to see us improve our scoring.

We got f*** all in the playoffs from our bottom-six.

 

[Misery74]

I really wanted to see us improve our scoring.

We got f*** all in the playoffs from our bottom-six.

I have to think McMichael must be in the plans now.

 

[Roshi]

Wtf Brian? Very uncharasteristic reach.

I really cant come up with anything good to say about this signing. Its over the market price, with an extra unnecessary year that will put heat on Ovies and Vranas renewals, for highly injury prone guy whos best merit is that he once seemed like a good young kid. Soft on own end, regressing fastly on the other.

Im praying this is the time when professional hockey wizards at our office really show us forum geeks how this works, but right now im only seeing inevitable buyout next summer.

Prove us wrong Justin. Please. Prove us wrong.

And i defended Orpik deal from start to finish..

 

[pman25]

I'm willing to entertain the Jack Johnson effect, but I'm still grumpy

 

[Brucelenok]

I don't know how to react to this. Shultz was terrible for Pens in the last year or so. But then again, I think all of us can agree Gudas was even more terrible. I think it is a little update to be honest with you.

 

[Langway]

I might give them more of a benefit of the doubt if they had an assistant hired for the defense. As-is it seems...messy.

 

[kicksavedave]

I didn’t like the Kuzy or Wilson extensions when they were announced, now they’re maybe the best contracts on the team. The Orpik deal has been mentioned. The deals that GMBM has done that have looked risky have all worked out pretty well.

They must really trust their doctors though between Schultz and Lapierre, if it works out well those are big time players.

This I think. They are rolling the dice that they are getting immediate high level contributors for cheaper than they would get if those guys had no health risks.

Its kinda one big final swing at stocking up for Ovi and Bakie's last few runs.

 

[Silky mitts]

Pettersson was his most common partner last season; JJ was definitely an anchor on him though

 

[RVACapsFan]

Can’t believe he’s getting $1MM more per year AAV than Dylan DeMelo; although DeMelo didn’t make it to FA

Also was reported that Weegar was seeking something in the $3MM AAV range; that too would’ve been quite preferable to this.

 

[francaisvolantsparis]

Why?!

 

[Langway]

This I think. They are rolling the dice that they are getting immediate high level contributors for cheaper than they would get if those guys had no health risks.

Only there's no discount here so they're paying upside type value to a player that may not contribute much of anything.

If this deal was for $2.5M or something and didn't necessitate dealing Panik to eventually be cap compliant it would be a lot more understandable. This is very much a hope signing and one that the trend lines would suggest may be a pretty foolish bet.

 

[Hivemind]

GMBM's D strategy seems to be collect as many defensemen with potential to be a #4 as possible and hope half of them are able to find chemistry with either Orlov or Carlson.

At least this wasn't a 4 year contract.

 

[Calicaps]

Wish Mac had some balls and went after Savard who is a total stud

And you know he didn't how?

 

[Holtbyisms]

Can probably dump him after a year if he doesn't work out. I'm not thrilled but he's a cap now, let's support him and hope he steps back up to his level from a couple years ago.

 

[Calicaps]

recommended reading: Confirmed with Link: - D Brooks Orpik signed (five years, $5.5M per)

 

[caps4cup]

There were definitely better options for that price but his numbers away from Johnson paint a whole different story. His xG% relative with his most common partner this year (Petterson) was +4.44%. With Johnson it was -9.71%. Away from Johnson, it was +1.1%. He would benefit a lot playing with Orlov and he brings some elements that the defensive corps was lacking and that Laviolette values.

 

[HeyMattyB]

recommended reading: Confirmed with Link: - D Brooks Orpik signed (five years, $5.5M per)

Hahaha I LOL'd so hard at the first response, which was "Gormley would love this signing."

EDIT: Seriously, I'm tearing up over here laughing about Gormley staring at the camera, deer-in-headlights-style, the most awkward human being ever captured on live television. Thank u for this much-needed lol in these dark times.

 

[Langway]

Last point: Laviolette and the rest of his eventual staff will have their work cut out for them. Maybe this is a stylistic fit in how they want to play but even the most generous assessment of Schultz has to allow for some shakiness that comes along with it. For a team that's already not that good defensively it's not the type of player I'd have targeted, particularly after MacLellan referenced The Culture and given that so much importance. They're going to need to play much more on their toes collectively to get the most out of him and he may need to have a renaissance offensively to be more than average overall.

 

[caps4cup]

Last point: Laviolette and the rest of his eventual staff will have their work cut out for them. Maybe this is a stylistic fit in how they want to play but even the most generous assessment of Schultz has to allow for some shakiness that comes along with it. For a team that's already not that good defensively it's not the type of player I'd have targeted, particularly after MacLellan has referenced The Culture and given that so much importance. They're going to need to play much more on their toes collectively to get the most out of him and he may need to have a renaissance offensively to be more than average overall.

In his interview, BMac mentioned that Schultz fit well with what Lavi wanted, so I assume that he had a big say in it.

I would also argue that the problems defensively last year had more to do with a terrible system and were exacerbated by Holtby performing very poorly. Siegenthaler, Dillon and Jensen have very strong defensive analytics while Orlov and Carlson were very strong defensively under Trotz (with the occasional brain fart). Schultz isn’t going to be great defensively but it should be much less of a problem under Laviolette than it would have been under Reirden.