The Edmonton Oilers pulled out all the stops in an attempt to lure Justin Schultz, a high-profile free agent coming out of the University of Wisconsin, and in the end were the victors in the Justin Schultz lottery as the young defenseman decided to sign with Edmonton over a host of other NHL clubs.
The Oilers had just passed up the opportunity to utilize their second-straight first-overall draft pick in the NHL Entry Draft to draft a promising defender in Ryan Murray, instead opting for Russian dynamo Nail Yakupov.
The team was criticized for not drafting to fill a position of need, but with the addition of Schultz, the Oilers ended up acquiring a talented, puck-moving defenseman, whom many projected to be a special player in the NHL thanks to his stellar numbers in the NCAA.
Thanks to the current NHL lockout, the Oilers have yet to see how Schultz will help benefit the production on the ice, but based on his small sample of work in the AHL thus far, it appears that Schultz is more than capable of stepping into a solid role for the Oilers.
With Ryan Whitney, Ladislav Smid, Nick Schultz and the emerging Jeff Petry already on the Oile ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Adam Bowen
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October 30th, 2012 by Adam Bowen Leave a reply »
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