Have the Pens been better without Schultz?

[EightyOne]

Eh, I really don't think it was "not caring." I think it's pretty obvious he never recovered from that 2018 injury. Then he got hurt again this past season. Even in 17-18, he wasn't bad. Fewer points, but was still +22.

Yup. Dude relied on speedy flow. His ankle is honestly ruining his career.

Pray to whatever your chosen deity that Dumo isn't about to Schultz 2.0

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yup. Dude relied on speedy flow. His ankle is honestly ruining his career.

Pray to whatever your chosen deity that Dumo isn't about to Schultz 2.0

That ankle/leg and the concussion (maybe more than one) really f***ed him up and last season was all of it coming to a head.

It's ridiculous, that 2017-18 year that @ncm7772 mentions, yeah he wasn't productive offensively as much as you'd like to see out of him, but he was solid defensively and improved in that aspect. That season, he missed 11 games with a lower body injury and then some more with a concussion. The next season? Dude breaks his f***ing leg...*Samuel L Jackson Voice* HIS MOTHER f***ING LEG, HE BROKE IT and then this past season, he seemed to have more issues.

While Jack Johnson is just garbage while healthy, Justin Schultz turned to garbage because his body was just brutalized with injuries and a concussion. The damage that can do to a player's psyche is well documented, hell Beau Bennett went through so many injuries that he lost all of his confidence and never rebounded again, whereas Schultz had promise, did well, lost confidence in Edmonton in his abilities, came to the Pens, was pushed back on track and then suddenly derailed after a breakthrough year because the Penguins injury curse struck.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Pray to whatever your chosen deity that Dumo isn't about to Schultz 2.0

Dumoulin is a f***ing moron.

He rushed himself right back into the line-up on opening day when he should have rested and then it just got worse from there. These blokes are so hell bent on f***ing up their body and future for the short term with zero hindsight, it makes me hard to feel sorry for them.

 

[JRS91]

Depends on how good Marino is next season.

I never understood the hate for Schultz, the guy was injured for most of the 4 years he was here. He had a great 2016-2017 season, the rest was pretty average when he was healthy. That said, I like the top four if it consists of Dumoulin, Letang, Pettersson and Marino. It's the bottom pairing that I'm worried about.

 

[SEALBound]

My closest Schultz comparison, TBH, is Neal. Neal was great at scoring goals when combine with Geno and a good LW. He was a big time scorer and getting those goals were certainly important. That said, there was a lot not to like about Neal. He was boneheaded at times, temperamental, and could easily get off his game and when he was off...he was off. But overall, you still liked his goal scoring ability.

I see Schultz in the same light, when you need that offensive minded PMD or PPQB, he could provide that and provide it well. But when he wasn't brining that, there was a lot not to like about that. Then there were obviously some frustrations surrounding some defensive lapses.

So like Neal, with Schultz you have to take the good when its good and take the bad when it's bad. "Better" or "Worse" is all relevant. This board has a hard enough time looking at the big picture regarding anything so I guess the only way to do it would be to count the single instances of good and the single instances of bad and seeing which glass is more full. *spoiler, the good glass is luke warm milk that's been sitting for a day and the bad is a well whiskey straight from your local corner dive bar.*