Proposal: Justin Schultz on the wing

[McDrai]

Do any of you agree that Justin Schultz would be best suited as a winger?
It seems like he is very capable offensively speaking but is pretty bad in his own zone
He also seems to have a fair amount of chemistry with RNH and Eberle. I'd personally like to try him out on the top line for a game while Larsen fills in for him. Lineup would be:

J.Schultz/RNH/Eberle
Hall/Gagner/Yakupov
Perron/Gordon/Hemsky
Joenssu/Arcobello/Jones

Our 4th line would actually be capable of playing 12+ minutes a night...

Click to read more...

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Federov did come into the league as a defenceman...

too bad JS will never be as good as Federov

 

[McDrai]

Federov did come into the league as a defenceman...

too bad JS will never be as good as Federov

And how do you know that? We haven't tried him out as a winger yet?

 

[friction]

Federov did come into the league as a defenceman...

too bad JS will never be as good as Federov

Fedorov won Selkes and played better D in Columbus than J. Schultz ever has.

J. Schultz, on the other hand, is as dynamic as any player on the Oilers and could be effective there in the right situation.

I'd love to see it happen.

 

[Toydarian]

I don't know if an average sized, slender, soft, poor defensive winger is really going to help the Oilers at the moment.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

I don't know how you can say he'd be poor defensively... as a winger. I mean, I understand he's pretty darn bad at defence being a defenceman, but without the same expectations on him as a defenceman, I'd reckon that he'd probably be one of our more defensively aware forwards.

That being said, no. No no no. Unless Larsen's incredulously good-looking game continues, he's the only player on the back end who doesn't look like he's handling a hand-grenade all the time. He misses his assignments, but we have literally nobody else (sometimes Petry, when he's not giving it away) who can pass from the back out.

 

[Quality Oil]

I think he'll be alright on D. The offense comes naturally for him, and D in the NHL takes awhile to learn (there are many examples of this). I'm not sure he'd be any better off as a winger.

Unfortunately for him, the oil are expecting him to step in and lead at such a young age, when (imo) he should still be sheltered and learning under some vets. Give him a few more years, he's still very young.

 

[Draiskull]

Skillset wise J.Schultz would be a first liner on this team.. Not sure if there is a need of it with all the other smaller skilled guys we have.

 

[SeriousBusiness]

No because we need to develop a good puck moving dman more than we need a winger at this point.

 

[Faelko]

Do any of you agree that Justin Schultz would be best suited as a winger?
It seems like he is very capable offensively speaking but is pretty bad in his own zone
He also seems to have a fair amount of chemistry with RNH and Eberle. I'd personally like to try him out on the top line for a game while Larsen fills in for him. Lineup would be:

J.Schultz/RNH/Eberle
Hall/Gagner/Yakupov
Perron/Gordon/Hemsky
Joenssu/Arcobello/Jones

Our 4th line would actually be capable of playing 12+ minutes a night...

No....how about we let him play more than 60 games at this level before we decide he needs to change positions.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

perron is better than schultz

but I agree we could do with less of tenderfoot-schultz's puck watching pop corn fest

 

[Mentallydull]

Do any of you agree that Justin Schultz would be best suited as a winger?
It seems like he is very capable offensively speaking but is pretty bad in his own zone
He also seems to have a fair amount of chemistry with RNH and Eberle. I'd personally like to try him out on the top line for a game while Larsen fills in for him. Lineup would be:

J.Schultz/RNH/Eberle
Hall/Gagner/Yakupov
Perron/Gordon/Hemsky
Joenssu/Arcobello/Jones

Our 4th line would actually be capable of playing 12+ minutes a night...

There is zero reason for J. Schultz to be playing on our first line, let alone bumping Hall and Perron down a line.

IF he were to fit in somewhere it'd have to be on the 3rd line and then you're knocking out some veteran presence in Smyth. This team needs guidance from wherever they can find it so as much as I think Smyth is pretty much done, I'm hesitant to pull him from the lineup.

That's also a weak as hell 3rd line...

 

[HemksyCares]

There is zero reason for J. Schultz to be playing on our first line, let alone bumping Hall and Perron down a line.

IF he were to fit in somewhere it'd have to be on the 3rd line and then you're knocking out some veteran presence in Smyth. This team needs guidance from wherever they can find it so as much as I think Smyth is pretty much done, I'm hesitant to pull him from the lineup.

That's also a weak as hell 3rd line...

That third line is weak?

I think that would be our strongest line considering how each of those players have performed this year. I understand the rampant misconception that Hemsky can't play defence or is "lazy", and the xenophobic attitude toward anyone who says different, but he's been excellent this year. His best 200foot season. Obviously Gordon is well-suited to that line, Perron is such a weasel and I would love having him out there to face top competition, and which right wing is better or more experienced at handing top lines than Hemsky?

I just don't get how you would say they are weak as hell.... It's not perfect, but I don't how a better group could be formed... What would your ideal third line be?

 

[duul]

Hall-RNH-Yakupov
Perron-Gordon-Eberle
Joensuu-Gagner-J.Schultz
Omark-Arcobello-Hemsky

Who needs grinding lines?

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

or.....whatever,,,

Hall-Gagner-Perron
Joensuu-RNH-Yakupov
Boyle-Gordon-Simmonds
Jones-Arcobello-Pitlick
Gazdic/Smyth

Ference-Girardi
Smid-Petry
Fedun-Larsen/Belov

 

[Klimando Kostani]

Would honestly rather see him at center and have thought this since game 1

 

[OttawaOilers]

Now here's an intriguing idea. But we need him on Defence. Other then Ference, Petry, he's our Best.

 

[Tarus]

He's young, the NHL position is a lot tougher to play than the college game for a defenseman, and he likely didn't get much training in the positional aspects of the game due to being a superior puck possession player at the college level.

He'll learn, and there is no reason to mess up his game by needlessly shuffling him around the lineup due to his immature play on a team that will play pathetic defense regardless of whether he's even in the lineup or not.

 

[Mentallydull]

That third line is weak?

I think that would be our strongest line considering how each of those players have performed this year. I understand the rampant misconception that Hemsky can't play defence or is "lazy", and the xenophobic attitude toward anyone who says different, but he's been excellent this year. His best 200foot season. Obviously Gordon is well-suited to that line, Perron is such a weasel and I would love having him out there to face top competition, and which right wing is better or more experienced at handing top lines than Hemsky?

I just don't get how you would say they are weak as hell.... It's not perfect, but I don't how a better group could be formed... What would your ideal third line be?

There's zero chance we play Hall on our third line and there's zero chance we bump Perron down to our third line as well. That leaves J. Schultz, Gordon, and Hemsky.

Gordon is a fantastic 3rd liner, no complaints there. J. Schultz, playing a new position, can't play defense, and can't play physical on a checking line? No thanks.

Then there's Hemsky...

Pros: Blocks the very occasional shot, backchecks decently, sporadic defense.

Cons: Not even remotely physical, tons of turn-overs, sporadic defense.

2 hell-no's and 1 yes on the third line - definitely not ideal.

 

[Tirefire]

j Schultz to forward? Seriously? I remember when Paul Coffey sucked on D and everyone was clamoring for him to play F. JS is no PC, however give him some time and a decent defense partner, and a goalie that can make a save or two. I'm in no way ready to see the Oilers pull this kind of a knee jerk reaction.

 

[OneMoreAstronaut]

I have never seen a fanbase suggest playing players out of position like I've seen on HFOil.

 

[Master Lok]

No....how about we let him play more than 60 games at this level before we decide he needs to change positions.

Agreed. Some of the threads here on hfboards are truly silly.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

silly?

 

[HemksyCares]

There's zero chance we play Hall on our third line and there's zero chance we bump Perron down to our third line as well. That leaves J. Schultz, Gordon, and Hemsky.

Gordon is a fantastic 3rd liner, no complaints there. J. Schultz, playing a new position, can't play defense, and can't play physical on a checking line? No thanks.

Then there's Hemsky...

Pros: Blocks the very occasional shot, backchecks decently, sporadic defense.

Cons: Not even remotely physical, tons of turn-overs, sporadic defense.

2 hell-no's and 1 yes on the third line - definitely not ideal.

I don't understand why being on the third line is in any way a demotion for Perron. A third line on this team, when healthy, doesn't need to fit into the traditional box people seem to like to keep it in. The "third line is for checkers and an insult for scoring wingers" is a mantra that needs to die on a team with our makeup, or the teams makeup needs to change. Besides, this is only for 5v5 situations, Perron and Hemmer would still get more offense focused shifts on one of the PP units...

Perron and Hemsky are the only wingers on this team with positive GA/TA ratios. In fact, Hemsky has the best GA/TA ratio at 1/2 (better than Gordons too), so I don't understand where your "tons of turn-overs" comment is coming from... Like I said, Hemsky is playing the best 200ft game of his career, has years of experience matching against other teams top lines as does Perron.

Would you rather play Ebs/Hall/Yak against the other teams top lines in 5v5 situations? I'd much rather they be left elsewhere, allowing us to create nightmare matchups for other teams, especially when playing at home.

What is your ideal third-line when (if) the team is healthy?

 

[Everest]

I'd rather trade him than explore converting him to a winger.

We've already got a poop-tonne of wingers who're (supposedly) going to be superstars.

We need a stud D-man.

If Schultz is a winger posing as a defenceman...as absurd as that suggestion might be...it can't happen here.