Confirmed with Link: Penguins re-sign Justin Schultz (3 years, $16.5M | $5.5M AAV)

[Slaaapshuter]

I'd also much rather have Schultz than any of the free agent defensemen receiving similar AAV deals.

Vlasic @ 7.00 (8 years!!!)?

For a guy who brings less than nothing offensively, 7m is a terrible deal.
For a guy who's 30, 8 years is a terrible deal.

That's just a terrible deal.

 

[WayneSid9987]

He's literally our Niskanen but 4 yrs younger/in his prime.
Would've preffered 5-5.2 stretched over 5 to 6 yrs.
Fine with it.

 

[Asuna]

I'd also much rather have Schultz than any of the free agent defensemen receiving similar AAV deals.

Vlasic @ 7.00 (8 years!!!)?
Shattenkirk @ 6.65?
Alzner @ 4.60?
Kulikov @ 4.33?

Gross. Puke. Pass.

Fowler's is the only deal that seems reasonable to me.

i didn't see the numbers of the vlasic deal until this post.

that is an absolutely absurd deal lol. my god

 

[Cherpak]

4 for Dumo is a pipe dream. I would say 5x5 or 6x4.5 is best case scenario with him. Maatta is getting 4.1...

No way in hell should he get 5 mill a season. If he wants that then he can leave.

 

[JTG]

Did they give him a NTC too?

 

[Burgs]

Considering Brandan Smith who got healthy-scratched four times last season, just got 4 years @ 4.35 million from the Rangers I'm afraid there is no way Dumoulin signs for under 4 million.

 

[66871]

No problem with the deal. We won the cup because guys played well. Guys who play well are in demand around the league. Keep what we can within our budget -- but you can't argue with the market.

 

[shaler79]

Needed to sign him. 1A quarterback of your power play. With Letang's injury history, bad neck and all. One bad check and Letang's career could be over. A slight overpayment but had to be done.

 

[Koempel]

Maybe we can pay Dumo in beer, or offer him a new buddy to pour out one for Daley before games. Still hoping for 3.5-4m, but expecting about 1m higher looking at all these contracts around the league. Have no clue what Sheary wants...

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I'd also much rather have Schultz than any of the free agent defensemen receiving similar AAV deals.

Vlasic @ 7.00 (8 years!!!)?
Shattenkirk @ 6.65?
Alzner @ 4.60?
Kulikov @ 4.33?

Gross. Puke. Pass.

Fowler's is the only deal that seems reasonable to me.

Even Fowler at $6.5 million is high for a guy who is 25 and been in the league 7 seasons and been a 30's point producer. Fowler's last 4 years are 36, 34, 28, and 39 points. That does not look like $6.5 million good in my book. I just think you better be a shut down type guy if you are only scoring in the 30's and want $6.5 million. I think that Vlasic's contract was the most insane payment though because of being 30 and the lack of high offensive numbers.

 

[FinProspects]

So Dumo at least 4x4 then? This is life after winning b2b cups, cant really keep all the pieces, and most likely need to downgrade a bit, especially in 3C+4C. But thats life.

 

[cheesedanish87]

This was a great deal IMO.

I know lots of fans thought the contract was high, but def that produce points in this league make a ton of money.

Shattenkirk who is one of the worst def in the league in his own end just got 6.6 million.

Markov who is 38 years old and put up 36 points is probably gonna get 5-6 million a year.

Their aren't many def in the league that can produce points, when you get one you gotta pay them.

 

[radapex]

I'm not so sure. Dumoulin's 25 and his career high in points is 16. Maatta had 29 as a 19 year old rookie. I'm hoping that puts a hard ceiling on the sort of contract that Dumoulin gets.

Yes... and Dumoulin led all Pens dmen in TOI these playoffs and was #3 behind Letang and Daley last playoffs. In the two runs combined, Dumoulin averaged 21:45 per game (2nd to Letang at 28:52) while Maatta averaged 19:24.

 

[radapex]

So Dumo at least 4x4 then? This is life after winning b2b cups, cant really keep all the pieces, and most likely need to downgrade a bit, especially in 3C+4C. But thats life.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Dumo got an offer sheet. He was a top pairing dman for the Pens the last two playoff runs, and led their dmen in TOI in the latest one. I'm sure there's some GM out there looking at the Pens current cap situation and going "if I offer sheet him at 5mil, it costs me a 1st and a 3rd but I'm almost positive I get him".

They still need to re-sign Sheary, who's most likely going to get 4+ off a 53-point in 61-game season. They need two Cs. There's no way they can spend half their remaining cap on Dumo. This is especially true with the minimum salary having jumped from $575k to $650k.

 

[Penske]

So Dumo at least 4x4 then? This is life after winning b2b cups, cant really keep all the pieces, and most likely need to downgrade a bit, especially in 3C+4C. But thats life.

Dumo would be 4x4 max. Limited offense and being an RFA means he won't have a lot of leverage.

He's scored 1 goal in his two full seasons here.

 

[Pengu]

The way the market has shaped up for defensemen Dumo gets at least Smith money.
Those 11 million thought it would cost for our 3 rfa seems to be more like 13 million.

 

[radapex]

Dumo would be 4x4 max. Limited offense and being an RFA means he won't have a lot of leverage.

He's scored 1 goal in his two full seasons here.

Playoffs give him a ton of leverage. Top pairing, eating up minutes, put up 14 points over that time (Schultz - 17, Letang - 15, Maatta - 15, Dumoulin - 14, Cole - 12, Daley - 11)...

 

[radapex]

The way the market has shaped up for defensemen Dumo gets at least Smith money.
Those 11 million thought it would cost for our 3 rfa seems to be more like 13 million.

Even more. I'm figuring Dumo ends up close to 5, even if it goes to arbitration, and Sheary at about 4.5 puts us to 15 for the RFAs.

 

[cheesedanish87]

The Dumo contract will be interesting.

The points you guys are bringing up will be talked about in negotiation.

The pens will say he doesn't score any points so he doesn't deserve 4 plus million a year.

Dumo agent will say hes been a top pairing def the past 2 years on a cup winning team.

I could see the pens and dumo agent being far apart on a contract and this contract taking a long time to get done.

 

[Vujtek]

The AAV is about the max I was comfortable paying Schultz. I like the term though. Schultz still has something left to prove so three year term lowers the risk for Penguins. Good deal for both sides.

I expect Dumo to come around $4.5 million on long-term deal (5-6 years) while Sheary gets two-year bridge deal worth around $3 million.

 

[Pens1566]

Love the term, little less enthusiastic about the AAV. Was hoping for max of 5. Oh well.

 

[Penske]

Playoffs give him a ton of leverage. Top pairing, eating up minutes, put up 14 points over that time (Schultz - 17, Letang - 15, Maatta - 15, Dumoulin - 14, Cole - 12, Daley - 11)...

Another RFA (Ghost) just got 4.5 mil and he's been on pace for 49 points per season over his 142 games.

Zaitsev got 4.5 and put up 36 points. Morgan Reilly signed at 5mil just last year.

I can't see Dumo getting that money with his production and he had an inconsistent season too.

 

[jmelm]

RFA defensive dman simply do not get that money. I think his best hope of expensive comparables would be Brodin and Larsson and they still both have better points production. I strongly doubt he'd get 4 in arbitration.

Brodin and Larsson were younger when they signed those deals and giving up fewer UFA years. I think the Brendan Smith and Alzner deals give Dumo an idea of what he's worth in UFA. So I think it will take 4-4.25 to lock him up long term.

Dumo would be 4x4 max. Limited offense and being an RFA means he won't have a lot of leverage.

Again, leverage here is he's a UFA in 2 years if we don't lock him up long term. Signing him for only 4 years when our pipeline blows (or at least is supremely young) would be a huge mistake. Dumo is young enough he will continue to get a lot better still.

 

[jmelm]

I think this is a fair deal for both Schultz and the Pens, but both parties missed an extremely easy slam dunk win/win contract. It's extremely low risk for each, but nobody benefits all that much. Schultz doesn't get term, so he loses the comfort of being set where he is happy. The Pens don't get term so they don't lock their guy long term and they overpay by 500k to keep it low term. Schultz loves the Pens. Schultz fits the Pens. It just seemed like a match made in heaven to do something like 6 x 4.5-5 so it would really benefit the Pens down the road and give Schultz his comfort.

It's a fair deal, but I feel both #4 and the Pens missed an easy opportunity to make this easier.

This was my initial reaction too (I was expecting longer term), but I think this is a combination of two things:

1) Schultz is betting on himself, that he can still achieve the #1 or high end #2 Dman status that may have been expected of him. And if he can continue to solidify his game and have 2 or 3 good years, the Penguins can extend him and he'll probably get Shattenkirk/Fowler money.

2) While I believe the Pens are 95% confident in Schultz, given his history, they may just wish to have a little more time to ensure that he can perform as he did consistently. If Schultz was coming off 2 full years with the team and they had a larger sample size (even if he didn't put up 50 points in both years), I think they would have been more confident to push for longer term.

So I think the combination of those 2 factors led to this outcome.

 

[T1K]

I felt like 5.5 was fair value for him. Only 3 years is good from our POV. Overall this is a solid contract, beats the hell out of Shattenkirk's deal.