Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, and... umm... Marek Zidlicky on All Star Ballots

Hi-oh!

^This

but he hasnt been playing offense either

You clearly know nothing about what Schultz is all about. He’s not meant to be an offensive dynamo, which everyone seems to want from every single defenseman nowadays.

He can’t hit? Well, I guess that’s why he’s 6th in team hitting. He also leads the team in blocked shots, which gives you an idea of how much heart he gives to this team.

And experience is the most valuable asset for a defensive-minded defenseman. It’s also a damn valuable asset in a team with a very low amount of veterans in it.

Nick Schultz is actually the most important player on the Wild’s blue line, but you know, he’s not flashy, so he sucks, right?

You’re either a troll or uninformed/don’t watch Wild games.

Nick Schultz is a damn good defensive defensman. Right now, I would say that only Scandella is better at moving the puck than Schultz. In fact, I believe that Schultz’s first pass is underrated in the NHL.
As for shooting, he’s better than most of the blueliners on the team. Once again, only Scandella is better at getting shots to the net. Schultz at least gets his puck in deep, unlike Zidlicky, who seems to have 3/4 of his shots blocked at the point and turned into an odd-man rush going the other way.
With hitting, Schultz won’t throw big hits, a-la Scott Stevens, but he plays the body smart. I liken his physical play to Lidstrom. Not a big, jaw-dropping smack, but a smart check that separates the player from the puck.
I guess if you’re going to believe that Nick Schultz is garbage, no one can stop you; however, you should at least watch a few games and use real facts instead of just saying a bunch of crap to make yourself feel better.

Not even going to justify this with a response.

per Russo

Crazy Habs fans were responsible for that one.

Because they only way to actually see a defensive defenseman’s worth is by actually watching him play and never hearing about him, which usually means he’s doing his job..

Komisarek got into the All-Star game because Montreal fans voted for him like crazy. Hell, Yao Ming made the NBA All-Star game last year, and he didn’t play one game. The Chinese flooded the ballots with no regard to who’s actually playing.

OK, one guy in the history of the game. Guess I was super wrong.

The amount of PKing this guy does is amazing. Steady,consistent, looked better defensibly than burns for the better part of the second half last year. Prosser?? You’ve gotta be kidding me. Falk isn’t going anywhere btw. And most GMs would be a little nuts to start as many young guys on D as we do, so paying shultz,a proven vet, is not really not that ridiculous. I suppose your a zidlicky fan lol..

he was terrible under richards because his system asked more of the d.

So let’s throw out the fact that Nick Schultz actually had his best offensive stats in his entire career under Richards. The entire team and philosophy was terrible. The fact that in two years, the guy was only -8 (first year when the team really struggled) and -4 (second year) on a team that couldn’t score while getting pinned down says a lot of about his defensive game.

his hits are often ineffective and he turns the puck over more than any of our young guns

That’s why nhl.com has Schultz listed at 4 giveaways through 14 games. Definitely a turnover machine. Oh wait, Scandella and Falk both have more turnovers, and Spurgeon has the same amount. Last season, Schultz had 25 total giveaways through 74 games.

i appreciate that he can block shots but so can any defenseman.

Schultz has 30 blocks. The next closest that has played at least 10 games is Spurgeon with 20. Zidlicky has 12. Perhaps “any defensman” can block shots, but ONLY Schultz is doing it game in, game out. Last season, he finished 2nd to Zanon. Only Burns, Zanon, and Schultz blocked more than 100 shots all last season. It’s easy for YOU to say that anyone can do it, but Schultz does it consistently.

we will be stuck with him while young guys like falk and prosser get scratched

Once again, you must not actually be watching the games. Falk isn’t scratched, and neither is Prosser.

Seriously, use facts and real information instead of just throwing out troll comments.

he was terrible under richards because his system asked more of the d.

Which translates to ‘’Richards asked Schultz to not play the way his skill set demands to’‘. Surely you’ve noticed that Richards was a pretty horrible coach, right?

his hits are often ineffective and he turns the puck over more than any of our young guns

That’s the falsest thing in your festival in false sentences. Hits don’t need to be ground shaking. If anything, a defenseman trying to destroys his opponents only puts himself out of position. Also, Schultz is as sound as can be with the puck, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

i appreciate that he can block shots but so can any defenseman

That is also false. Not every defenseman knows how to block a shot properly and not every defenseman is willing to block shots.

if schultz went down to injury we wouldn’t miss him nearly as much as you two seem to think

I’ve looked a how the Wild have done when he was out of the lineup in the last 3 years before this year. The Wild are 8-4-1, which isn’t all that bad, but they had also allowed 38 goals. 38 goals in 13 games is almost 3 goals per game, which is horrible. The only reason the Wild won so many games was because in three of those games, Gaborik was on fire and for the rest, the goaltender did good. In a low scoring team like the Wild, defensive d-men like Schultz are essential.

he is the benefactor of yeo’s and lemaire’s systems.

You mean systems that favor smart, positional sound play? That happens to be Schultz speciality, so of course he’s good in those systems.

I think Mooney is on here trying to convince us that the Wild still have the worst blueline in all of the NHL hahaha

but a battle over Nick Schultz’s skill set is something I never anticipated seeing.