West Kelowna defenceman wins 2nd Stanley Cup
Former Warriors’ defenceman hoists 2nd Stanley Cup in 2nd season with Penguins
It’s a feat that has not been accomplished in nearly 20 years but West Kelowna Warriors alum Justin Schultz and the Pittsburgh Penguins captured back-toback Stanley Cup championships with a six-game series win over the Nashville Predators on Sunday evening.
The Penguins become the first team since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 to hoist the Cup in consecutive seasons and are the first team in the salary-cap era to repeat.
Schultz, a West Kelowna native and former Warriors defenceman, earned a second Stanley Cup ring in just his second season with Pittsburgh, having been acquired from Edmonton at the 2016 trade deadline.
After struggling as a member of the Oilers, in the midst of their decade-long playoff drought, Schultz got a fresh start with the Penguins and has made the most of that opportunity. He re-signed with Pittsburgh last summer, inking a one-year extension worth US$1.4 million, and should be due for a nice raise as a restricted free agent again this off-season.
Schultz logged a lot of power-play time in the post-season, filling in for injured top defenceman Kris Letang in offensive situations and producing 13 points, including four goals, in 21 games. He also established career highs in the regular season with 12 goals and 51 points in 78 games, with an impressive plus-27 rating.
Schultz grew up in the West Kelowna minor hockey system and played parts of three BCHL seasons with his hometown Warriors (from 2006 to 2009) before heading to the University of Wisconsin for a successful three seasons with the NCAA Badgers.
Schultz tallied 25 goals and 91 points in 107 career regular-season games with the Warriors, and added four goals and 11 points in 17 playoff games.
Schultz netted a goal and two assists in the Penguins’ 3-2 double-overtime victory in Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference final.
Schultz also opened the scoring in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Nashville Predators, netting what stood up as the winning goal in Pittsburgh’s 6-0 victory.
Schultz was on the ice for 18 minutes 13 seconds in the Cup-clinching Game 6 in Nashville on Sunday, leaving his mark again by assisting on the winning goal by Patric Hornqvist with 1:35 remaining in the third period. Schultz’s shot from the point bounced off the end boards and to the side of the net for Hornqvist to bank the puck in off Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, giving Pittsburgh a late 1-0 lead. Carl Hagelin added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left to secure the 2-0 triumph.
The Warriors had an alumni player on both teams in the Stanley Cup Final, with Predators forward Colton Sissons also starting his junior career in West Kelowna in 2009-10 before crossing the bridge to spend three seasons with the Kelowna Rockets, captaining the WHL club for the latter two campaigns.
Sissons had a breakout performance in this year’s playoffs, recording six goals and 12 points in 22 games. That included a hat trick in Nashville’s 6-3 series-clinching win over Anaheim in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.
Sissons was arguably Nashville’s best player in Sunday’s season-ending defeat too. He appeared to open the scoring 67 seconds into the second period, but Sissons’ goal was wiped out by an early whistle from the referee. He also hit a goalpost and got stopped on a breakaway by Matt Murray, who made 27 saves for the shutout.
Sissons just finished the first season in a three-year contract and is scheduled to earn US$650,000 for each of the next two campaigns.
However, it is not certain that Sissons will stay with Nashville since his post-season emergence and attractive contract could be appealing to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, who will announce their roster selections on June 21.
Sissons will likely be exposed to the expansion draft, with the Predators expected to protect four defencemen — Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm — plus four forwards in their top line of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, presumably along with James Neal.
That would leave the likes of Sissons, Craig Smith, Colin Wilson, Calle Jarnkrok, Pontus Aberg and Austin Watson as forwards available to Vegas, which will pick one player from each of the 30 teams.
Even if Nashville was to trade a defenceman between now and Saturday’s deadline for submitting protected lists to Vegas, Sissons could still be vulnerable since the Predators could only keep three extra forwards from that group of six.
Schultz should be safe in Pittsburgh, with rumours that Vegas will select goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who has reportedly waived his no-movement clause in order to be exposed (and probably picked) in the expansion draft. The Penguins could protect Schultz, Letang, Olli Maata and Brian Dumoulin on defence, plus Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Hornqvist up front.
Schultz could, however, be a target for an offer sheet if Pittsburgh doesn’t get him signed in a timely fashion.
Offensive-minded defencemen, especially right-handed ones like Schultz, are a hot commodity around the league and some other team could swoop in to offer him a lucrative, long-term contract.
Schultz brought the Stanley Cup home to West Kelowna last summer — each player gets to spend one day with the trophy during the off-season — and may do the same this year.