Schultz Absence Proving He's Top Defenseman on Team
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
In the two games Justin Schultz has been sidelined with a concussion, the Pittsburgh Penguins defense has already been suffering without him. They are 0-for-5 on the power play in the two games without him. He is a quarterback on the back end of the power play. A defenseman on the power play is supposed to make good crisp passes to the top players or shoot the puck, and set up a chance to score.
Schultz is already missed because Kris Letang did a horrific job today setting up chances on the power play for Pittsburgh. They couldn't operate well at all. Justin rarely turns the puck over and he usually doesn't have any defensive lapses. Kris Letang was a -3 today, and I don't recall Schultz having a bad game like that this season.
The numbers speak for themselves. Schultz has 9 goals and 30 assists with a plus/minus of 31 and Letang has 5 goals and 28 assists and a plus/minus of 0. What does that tell you? It tells you that Schultz is always in position on defense and Letang can bite.
Letang will never be moved off the first defensive pairing because of his talent. In reality, Schultz is the team's best defenseman despite not being on the team's first defensive pairing.
Pittsburgh is 0-1-1 in his absence.
