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.