Justin Schultz Gets His Choice

When Blake Wheeler bailed on the Phoenix Coyotes for the chance to become an unrestricted free agent, it was a rather surprising move. It was a rule people knew about, but not one a first-round pick and highly-touted prospect had used the way Wheeler did.

Wheeler has carved out a pretty good career for himself in the NHL, so it's hard to say things didn't work out for him. Phoenix has turned itself into a perennial playoff team, despite budget constraints and all the drama surrounding the franchise's future in Arizona. So, yeah, it's worked out for the Coyotes, too.

When Wisconsin lost to Denver in the first round of the WCHA playoffs in March, conventional wisdom was that defenseman Justin Schultz would sign with the Anaheim Ducks, the team that drafted him in 2008. That didn't happen, and it immediately started to look like Schultz was taking advantage of the same rule Wheeler did.

Per the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player who is drafted and then plays in junior for one season before going to college can exercise a rule in the agreement. That player has the right to withdraw from school after his junior year. After a 30-day window where the drafting team has exclusive negotiating rights, the player can become an unrestricted free agent, just like Wheeler did, and now how Schultz has done.

It's a rule that allows players who played junior hockey for a year before going to college to be treated the same as those who go straight to college. After four years have passed, a team has to make a decision ... if the player withdraws from school and forces the team to make that call.

Players who spend their four post-draft seasons in college have the same rights Schultz does. They can become free agents if they choose to not sign in the 30-day window.

It's a rule that not everyone understands (even after Wheeler signed with Boston, I didn't totally understand it), but it does make perfect sense if you think about it.

The only thing I don't like about it is entry-level players have more freedom than restricted free agents. I'm not sure I like the message that sends.

A restricted free agent who is extended a qualifying offer by his current team has virtually no freedom compared to what Schultz has now. That RFA can sign an offer sheet with a different team, but the current team has a right to match the offer and keep the player. In the case of Schultz, Anaheim has no right. The club offered Schultz the max, but obviously Schultz wants to play elsewhere.

Per the CBA, it's his right. That doesn't make it right.

It's something I'd like to see fixed in the upcoming negotiations, though I fully understand it isn't a priority for Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr. Entry-level players should not have more rights when it comes to "picking" their NHL team than experienced free agents do.

As for the future, I've tweeted this before, but I'd be willing to bet Schultz ends up with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Buddy Jake Gardiner was traded there, and it seems the Leafs' move of Luke Schenn could have been made to open a spot among their top four defensemen for Schultz to fill.

Can Schultz step in and be a top four defenseman in the NHL? Well, he's as good as I've seen in college hockey over my seven years calling games there. He has puck-moving, skating, and hockey sense that can translate to any level, including the NHL. There's no reason he won't be very good, but there's obviously some risk when you're talking about a guy who played in the BCHL for juniors and then played three years in college.

I have no problem with Schultz taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him by the CBA. None whatsoever. Ducks fans probably disagree, but that's the nature of the beast. Their anger should be directed at the system that allows this. Some will be mad at GM Bob Murray for not making a deal for Schultz's negotiating rights during the 30-day window. I'm not sure what good that would have done, since a deal with the Maple Leafs seems like a foregone conclusion, to the point that I've heard the "T" word (tampering) thrown around.

In the end, it's unfortunate that the Ducks will lose a potentially great defenseman, but it's hard to look down on Schultz for doing what he thinks is best for him.

Bordson Off to NHL

With UMD's season officially ending Sunday as NCAA brackets were announced that didn't include the Bulldogs, the silly season started.

College hockey is different now. While drafted players are always a risk to leave, the unpredictability of free agency has had a great impact on the sport. Undrafted players are free to go wherever they want, though they are limited in the dollars they can receive on their entry-level deals.

In the case of UMD junior Rob Bordson, that max offer came, and it was time to strike while the proverbial iron was hot.

Bordson signed a two-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks Sunday, and he will join the team later this week. While it's uncertain whether he will play with the big club, he will apparently remain with the Ducks for the rest of the season. That will at least give him a chance to practice with NHL players and get a feel for the intensity of an NHL playoff race (the Ducks are hanging by a thread in the Western Conference).

A WCHA Scholar Athlete this season, Bordson is giving up his last year of college eligibility to turn pro.

"I had a pretty busy day and some tough decisions, but at the end of the day I've always wanted to play professional hockey. It was a tough decision leaving my hometown and college, but it was too good of an offer to pass up," Bordson said Sunday night. "Nothing would have been guaranteed for next year. I think it was time to move on and take that next step in my career.

... "It was definitely very difficult. I love everyone at UMD. They were very professional about it, very supportive. They were very helpful. It was tough leaving them," he said. "Everyone wants to be a professional hockey player. I think it was the time to do it."

People will undoubtedly look at this as some sign of a broken system in the sport. While I've heard rumblings of discontent from college coaches about the way free agents are scouted, it's very difficult to begrudge either Bordson or the Ducks.

For Bordson, this was the best entry-level offer he was ever going to get. Since he'd be 23 next year when he could again sign a contract, his maximum money would actually drop, meaning he'd be getting less money over the course of a two-year deal. Not only that, but this team is willing to pay him a pro-rated salary for the rest of the season with no real guarantee of how much he'll play.

Bordson gets a head-start on his training for next season, and if he gets a chance to get on the ice for a game, he'll only be better from it.

From Anaheim's perspective, it's a pretty cheap way of bringing new young talent into the organization. They can take a look at him as much as they want over the final two weeks of the regular season, and then they have the rights to him next year for training camp for an even longer look.

Even if Bordson ends up in the minors, he has taken a good first step toward what we hope is a successful pro career.

This part of the system certainly sucks, but there isn't a sport where kids are bound to a college for four years, and there shouldn't be one. Scholarships are not a four-year contract to a college, nor are they a four-year contract for the kid. They can be revoked, and they sometimes are.

While I have previously been a firm advocate of a two-year minimum on a college commitment for any player who signs a letter of intent, it would only hurt the sport to go that route. Players like Jordan Schroeder, Nick Leddy, Dylan Olsen, or (in the past) Phil Kessel, Blake Wheeler, or Erik Johnson could be less inclined to go to college, because there was no lock any of these kids were going to stay in school two years.

I get the idea that having kids who want to be in college hockey is best for the sport, but the sport would suffer if the high-end players were more likely to go major junior or directly to the pros. You need those kids to help bring some notoriety to the game, even if they only stay a year.

In Bordson's case, he stayed three years, had an awesome junior season, and while there were still some flaws in his game, it's hard to tell a kid that he should just turn down a max offer that may never be there for him again in his life.