Justin Schultz is the first member of the current edition of the Edmonton Oilers to make this Top 100 list. That’s a sketchy proposition on a number of fronts for me, not the least of which is that he isn’t “my kind” of player and there’s every chance he could play himself right off it this season.
With 203 games in the books with the Oilers, Schultz is one of those polarizing players. A lot of people laud Schultz’s unquestionable offensive ability. Many others, like me, lament his decision-making, his lack of commitment to defensive play and to be engaged physically, even a little bit.
| NUMBER: | 19 | BIRTHDATE: | July 6, 1990 (AGE 25) |
| HEIGHT: | 6′ 2″ | BIRTHPLACE: | Kelowna, BC, Canada |
| WEIGHT: | 193 | DRAFTED: | ANA / 2008 NHL Entry Draft |
| SHOOTS: | Right | ROUND: | 2nd (43rd overall |
BY THE NUMBERS
CAREER REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | WESTSIDE WARRIORS-BCHL | 57 | 9 | 31 | 40 | 28 | ||||||
| 2008-09 | WESTSIDE WARRIORS-BCHL | 49 | 15 | 35 | 50 | 29 | ||||||
| 2009-10 | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WCHA | 43 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 12 | ||||||
| 2010-11 | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WCHA | 41 | 18 | 29 | 47 | 28 | 9 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 2011-12 | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WCHA | 37 | 16 | 28 | 44 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2012-13 | OILERS | 48 | 8 | 19 | 27 | -17 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 85 | 9.4 |
| 2012-13 | OKLAHOMA CITY BARONS-AHL | 34 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 93 | 19.4 |
| 2012-13 | CANADA-WC-A | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2013-14 | OILERS | 74 | 11 | 22 | 33 | -22 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 109 | 10.1 |
| 2014-15 | OILERS | 81 | 6 | 25 | 31 | -17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 122 | 4.9 |
| 2015-16 | OILERS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.0 |
| NHL TOTALS | 209 | 25 | 66 | 91 | -58 | 38 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 329 | 7.6 |
CAREER PLAYOFF STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | WESTSIDE WARRIORS-BCHL | 11 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | |||
| 2008-09 | WESTSIDE WARRIORS-BCHL | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
NOTABLE
Schultz, entering his fourth NHL season with the Oilers at the age of 25, is never going to be a big banger or the kind of player who imposes his will physically on opponents. That’s just not part of his make-up. That hardly excludes him from being a solid NHLer. Lots of very good players aren’t blood-and-guts types. They find other ways to be effective.
That’s the challenge for Schultz. He has to become physically stronger – he has talked about working on that this off-season – so he can better engage opponents. He has to commit to expending as much energy in his own zone, if not more, as he does in jumping to the attack. Nothing burns fans more than seeing Schultz dash up ice like a house on fire, lose the puck and then glide back as opposing forwards turn it back the other way.
All that said, warts and all, Schultz has led Edmonton defensemen in points in all three of his seasons with 27, 33 and 31 at a time when there hasn’t been nearly enough offensive contribution from the back end. Schultz has what the Oilers lack. The trick is building on the good and losing the bad.
THE STORY
The arrival of Andrej Sekera and the emergence of Oscar Klefbom will mean some offensive help from the blue line. That will give coach Todd McLellan options and should allow Schultz to play fewer minutes at even strength than he has in his first three seasons.
I don’t know what Schultz’s top end will be, but if he can produce 30-35 points a season and become more reliable defensively, then No. 94 on this list might be way too low two or three years from now – assuming he gets an extension on the one-year deal he’s playing on.
If that commitment to close the gaps in his game is more talk than action this season, then he could play himself right out of the picture on a blue line that is slowly building some depth. Many players as talented Schultz have come and quickly gone because they didn’t put the work in.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
Fist of all, this guy should be on the OK barons top 100, not Oilers… I think there is a Craig Muni or something out there that has contributed more than this guy.
I expect Muni to be up in the 60’s. If this organisation was run really well over the last 20 years, Muni would be at about 94 on the list, but that’s not the case.
Muni is on the list and higher than the 60s.
No doubt Muni should be very high up, he was amazing defensively. You need players like that to balance a team like the 80s Oilers.
If Schultz came to the Oilers as an unheralded draft pick or college signing we’d all sing his praises and forgive his short-comings. The problems is he came with all this baggage and all these expectations…and that Norris comment and salary by MacT didn’t help.
He did give us the “Jultz”… That has to count for something…..
Brownlee is getting controversial with this one….
He is 6′ 2″……… seriously? He looks kinda smurfy from where I sit in RX1
Toni Rajala also should be in top 100 of all time OK Barons…. since we’re on the topic.
Mr. Brownlee is trolling.
that he is in the top 100 – justifiably so – says a lot about how lousy oiler’s rosters have been outside of the ring years.
Oh god, you KNOW things are bad when Serious Gord is the voice of reason!!
I wouldn’t put Schultz in the top 15 players currently on Oiler contracts let alone top 100 all time.
There is no way he is our best Dman currently and our Defence is bad.
We have several forwards that are young in their careers but will eventually force their way on this list. Everyone of them should be ahead of Schultz.
We are talking present tense – past achievements – not futures.
If by “several young forwards” you mean Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins, they are already on the list and way higher than Schultz.
I will admit, he has looked stronger so far in this short season (small sample size)
Before this year I really doubted he was an nhl caliber dman. He reminded me more of Rob Shremp than Gretzky. In a protected role with very limited ice I have always thought he would still be a liability. I had hoped if they could not get anything for his rights they would walk away from him as there were far better free agents then him that could easily be had for his money.
I hope I am wrong and saw him bad.I hope that with strong coaching and systems he is able to turn into what we all hoped he might become when he signed here. I will admit I don’t like 1 dimensional offensive dmen at the best of the times, and don’t think he has put up the type of numbers that warrant the liability he brings even without the pricetag
When you said 1st current Oiler I thought you meant only current Oiler that made the list not that he was the lowest current Oiler on the list.
Reading comprehension does seem to be a problem with many ON’ers from time to time.
I’d be interested in a ranking of current oil players. I’d probably have Shultz around 9 or 10. 2d and 6-7 forwards ahead of him.
Pronger or Coffee??? Not that easy a choice eh?
Looks like he should have won the Lady Byng back in 12/13…. PIM’s of 8 (so four hooking penalties).
I think Campbell had only 6 PIMs.
So it looks like Curt Brakenbury is going to place higher than Schultz
Nope. Didn’t make it.
This can’t have been an easy list to make. I think though this spot is justified. I encourage Oiler fans to remember when Schultz picked to come to Edmonton and what a huge deal that was. After years of getting the free agent snub, this guy chose us. That was one of the few bright spots back then before Eakins had the wheels fall off.
Plus Schultz is just a goat. He was thrown onto the top pair from day 1 and also had his GM raise the bar as high as it could go to “Norris trophy potential” while being in hockey-mad Edmonton where most people recognize you and blame you for being the only option. I also give every player a free pass on the Eakins era.
Schultz is still young and can be a beast when he’s engaged and on his game.
I like what he’s doing so far this year. Is it because the bar is set so low now?
I believe he has a good upside. I think circumstances put too much on him the past two years. That he plays top 2 minutes is an indication of how poor the defense has been. I do read what Bradleypi says about him and much makes sense. It’s just at times he seems to check out.
Without my even having considered putting together a list of the top 100, I don’t know how deep you had to dig but if him being in the top 100 at this point in his career makes sense, I would suggest you had to dig pretty deep to get 100 Oilers on your list.
…why Robin…you feeling masochistic today? this fan base detests this kid when he gives up the puck anytime and loves the [heck] out of him when he gets an assist on the PP!
… I guess the 94th pick of the top one hundred couldn’t have been the mullet.
You got Schultz ahead of grebeshkov?? What’s going on here??
Grebs is only on Mact’s top 100 list.
Well everyone knows Gretzky is #1. Question is… Does McDavid take #2?
Not.
Yet.
Top 10?
It has to take more than 1 good season (and a slough of horrible ads) to unseat the Moose. Given the timetable that Brownlee outlined for the list if McD inserts himself somewhere it will probably become The Best 101 Oilers of All Time, but he can’t earn second spot all time until he brings home a Cup.
At the pace these rankings are being pumped out, McDavid may be #1 on the list by the time we get to the top 2.
Didn’t see that name appearing on the list anywhere… but hey, it’s your subjective list so game on!
I look forward to the full 100 to be named so that the real debate can begin.
Hey Robin – I think you made a typo. “Top Oilers of all time” should be “Worst Oilers of all time”
Frankly I still Think that this guy might have an NHL career in him, maybe even a decent chunk of it spent as an Oiler. We’ve had some pretty good NHLers play in Edmonton though, do you really think that he’s one of the 100 best?
Of Robin’s list so far the only player I would have ahead of Schultz is Scott Mellanby, but he didn’t really play here all that long.
I think it would be easy to make a top 50 player list, but after that there were a number of decades of lean years.
@ #93 Cory Cross???
No,no more like Igor Kravchuk???
Fred oleson. Bob beers. Boris mironoff.
Fred oleson. Bob beers. Boris mironoff.
Jultz top 100, god, closing gaps. Who closes the gaps everytime he rips a fancy wrister and abandons the blue line coming the other way? Good thing he has “offensive upside”, because Talbot bails Jultz out everytime he sets up in Gretzkys office at the other end of the rink when the play is already in front of his own net, the area Gryba clears regularly. Jultz top 100, right.
At 93 – Nick Stajduhar
92 – zdeno ciger
I like how the pick the Ducks used to draft Schultz was originally an Oiler pick(part of the Penner offer sheet compensation). Then Schultz balked at signing with the Ducks and came to the Oilers anyways.
Go home, RB, you’re drunk. 🙂
If Schultz is the 94 best Oiler of all time,missing the playoffs for going on a decade makes sense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edmonton_Oilers_players
Those whom don’t like Schultz on the list probably won’t like the next 5-10 selections as well.
Haha my opinionated comment was removed. What a lame site this has become.
Here’s the deal, only 507 players have played for the Oilers. Of those only a couple of hundred have played a (nearly) full season. So choosing the top 100 means you’re basically selecting all the “above average” players, of which Schultz is one.