Photo: NHL.com
The Washington Capitals have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Justin Schultz to a two-year contract that carries a cap hit of $4 million. The team will pay him $3 million in 2020-21 and $5 million the next season.
Hearing Justin Schultz has agreed to a 2 year deal with the Capitals.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 9, 2020
The 30-year-old defenseman recorded three goals, 12 points, and a -13 rating in 46 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season. In 482 career games with the Penguins and Edmonton Oilers, Schultz has recorded 50 goals, 214 points, and a -35 rating.
Schultz’s best season came in 2016-17 when he set career-highs in goals (12), assists (39), points (51), and plus-minus (+27) in 78 games. He was limited to just 75 games in the past two seasons due to multiple injuries.
Schultz, who won the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons with the Penguins (2016, 2017), will likely slide in the Capitals’ second defensive pairing with Dmitry Orlov.
In 56 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Schultz has recorded six goals, 29 points, and a +3 rating.
Last season, the defenseman posted a 49.77% Corsi-for percentage, a 50.88% expected goals-for percentage, 36 hits, 50 blocked shots, 18 giveaways, and six takeaways while averaging 19:53 per game (fourth among Penguins’ defenseman), including 2:45 on the power-play (second).
Schultz was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks 43rd overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. Schultz signed as a collegiate free agent with the Oilers on June 29, 2012.
The Capitals made it a priority to add to their defense after they gave up average of 3.44 goals-per-game from December 22 onward (the most among the 24 teams that were invited to the NHL’s return-to-play plan) and allowed an average of 2.88 per game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Capitals now have about $3 million remaining in cap space after signing Schultz, according to CapFriendly. The team is also reportedly looking to add a forward.
Justin Schultz, signed 2x$4M by WSH, is a liability defensively and not nearly as good on the PP as you probably think he is, to say the least. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/gnyYLpjoCk
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 9, 2020
By Harrison Brown
Not sure I get this reasoning behind this one….
RHD’s are scarce this offseason. A bit pricey though.
Reasoning have you not followed this team & free agent signings for last 3 offseason’s? They never make sense wise or money wise! But as long as your owner keeps current GM employed you’ll keep seeing stupid decisions!
These are the kind of comments that make me cringe. Get to know the game a little better…. maybe even the team you root for. RHD are pricey and the caps are in desperate need of one. Schultz is actually a good player who managed to stay afloat in Corsi / Fenwick stats despite being dragged down by that useless weight Jack Johnson. Schultz also has very good speed and does well clearing the defensive zone. This is a smart move. Money wise… the market demands what it demands, when you don’t have what you need – you’ll pay for it in free agency.
CORSI is useless, it was an attempt by Vegas to use stats in hockey like is possible in baseball, it doesn’t work
Corsi is used as a tool in tandem with all other stats. Corsi helps define possession. Possession of the puck is a good thing right? Go do a little homework and see where Corsi stats range between elites and non elites and you’ll figure out how relevant it is.
you should do a little homework yourself, you learn more when you ask why things don’t work rather than blindly accepting that they do…
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/nhl-advanced-stats-corsi-explained-analytics-corsica-hurricanes-blues-oilers/11ncjyshxrv4l1cihgfy8fwfd7
https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/492173/why-hockey-metrics-corsi-and-fenwick-are-mostly-bullshit
this looks like a really bad move. That -35 is atrocious for someone that just won back to back Cups in the city we hate
Thank you Jack,the”New World Order” stats may give this signing a thumbs up but as you said -35 speaks for it’s self! Schultz has had a short honeymoon in Edmonton also before he got ” run out” of organization. This team has now lost 20+ players from cup winning team in less than 3 seasons,not sure how GM can still tell owner that this is still top tier team with that level of player turnover .
Most of the negative +\- came from the early days in Edmonton… And then of course we all know that entire pens team was trash last year. I’m not saying he’s a godsend… I’m saying you’re jumping the gun and the signing has a lot of upside. Give him Orlov as a partner under Lavi and its quite possible we see the player from those cup years
That was my thought exactly. He’ll have better talent around him and he fits Lavi’s system. Hopefully he shine and stay healthy. But definitely a risk.