Getting Nervous

[rocowear21]

I wouldn't mind a player like Zanon for depth at D, honestly I was looking at a player like Sarich who was just resigned. Big Physical D man that would clear the front of the net.

[bsi]

I'm all for Schultz, I think however everyone is overvaluing him, if he at some point turns out to be as good as DelZotto that could be his ceiling. DelZotto had more points per game playing in a better league OHL than Schultz did playing College hockey. So anyone who thinks he's gonna come in and somehow be the cure all to our PP problems or be a replacement for DelZotto is reading too much into the media saying he's NHL ready, the same was said of Erixxon last year. DelZotto had 41 points in 77 games for us this year, 5th on the team, first in defense, and 10 points in 20 games in playoffs, and he was a +20 regular season, and a +10 in the playoffs and he's the same age as Schultz right now. He's much better than people give him credit for. Having said all that, I think we should sign Schultz though, he could be MDZ version 2

[nyr1980]

Bsi, that's exactly right. We're hearing great things about Schultz and I'm sure the talent is there, but you never know about a guy until he's able to play at the NHL level.

Moreover, the learning/development curve for defensemen is generally 250-300 games befor they're considered fully developed. And there's usually some growing pains in their, like those we saw with Del Zotto in 10-11.

That being said, as Schultz enters the league older than Del Zotto did, he may be further along. Either way, I can't see Torts running him out there 20+ mins a night right off the rip unless he's unbelievable. Hell, even if he does sign, he might not even make the team. He could potentially have to leap frog 4 or 5 other guys who are competing for those last 2 spots, assuming all are healthy and here.

Commonsense, you may be right on Sauer, and they shouldn't be counting on him as of yet. But I haven't heard career threatening. In fact they are saying he's making progress, albeit slowly. Traing camp is still 2+ months away, a lot can happen.