Justin Schultz, the top defenseman prospect for the Anaheim Ducks, is leaving the University of Wisconsin, giving Anaheim 30 days to sign him before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The news was first reported on Twitter by NHL analyst Bob McKenzie of TSN (@TSNBobMcKenzie), and was later confirmed by Ducks beat writer Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register (@icemancometh), who wrote that the Ducks have 30 days of exclusive negotiating rights with Schultz. If the British Columbia native does decide to pursue the open market, though, he won't be eligible to sign with another team until NHL free agency begins on July 1.
Schultz, who will turn 22 in July, was a second-round pick of the Ducks (43rd overall) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He just completed his junior season at Wisconsin, where he scored 16 goals and handed out 28 assists in 37 games while taking just 12 penalty minutes. For the second consecutive season, he was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. According to Wisconsin's statistics, Schultz also finished season with a plus-minus rating of plus-11 on a 17-18-2 team that scored 105 goals while allowing 102.
Typically, when an NHL-drafted player leaves school to turn pro, he signs with the team that drafted him simultaneously. When that doesn't happen, the odds are that he'll go someplace else. That's what happened with Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler, who was chosen by the Phoenix Coyotes with the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Wheeler left the University of Minnesota after his junior season, chose not to sign with the Coyotes, and wound up with the Boston Bruins, where he scored 21 goals and recorded 24 assists as a rookie in 2008-09. By the same token, former New York Islanders draft pick Jason Gregoire chose not to sign with the Islanders when he left the University of North Dakota last year, and wound up signing with his hometown Winnipeg Jets. It's quite possible that Schultz is making this move because he seeks greener pastures than Anaheim, where the Ducks went 34-36-12 last season and finished fifth in the Pacific Division.
According to prospects site HockeysFuture.com, Schultz is rated 25th among NHL on a list that includes current NHLers like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers, Carl Hagelin of the Rangers and Slava Voynov of the Kings. Suffice it to say that if this high-powered offensive defenseman (40 goals and 73 assists in 118 career games at Wisconsin) hits the open market, he'll have no shortage of suitors for his services.
