Tom Gilbert comes home, as Minnesota deals Nick Schultz to Edmonton

Why sre we talking about this deal like Edmonton moved on offensive D for a defensive one? Gilbert had offensive upside, but he was very, very good on his own end and a killer shotblocker. What is the point of this? Are people still confused as to what kind of defenceman Gilbert is? Did this season not settle the bullspit criticism that he was soft/high-risk? How does this make sense? This isn’t even robbing Peter to pay Paul, it’s robbing Peter to pay Peter, and getting dinged on the transaction fees.
I like Schultz a lot, but... not like this.

If your defensemen can't move the puck to the forewards and your defenseman can't put the puck on net you won't have much offense. Picking up a goal scoring foreward isn't the only way to generate offense. I'm not a big fan of this trade but Glibert does bring more puck moving and offense to the wild blueline than Shultz did and let's face it the Wild could use some more offense on the back end. The question to ask is does the offense that Gilbert will bring to the team going to out weigh the defense that Schultz brought every night and vice versa? I'm not so sure on that one but I guess we'll see.

As a Wild fan I have to say watching as many games for as many season as I have, Schultz is a character guy but his play has been slipping dating back to last season. I love Schultz for the person he is but it was time to move on. Tom Gilbert adds multiple things for the Wild. His size is something the Wild lack, his ability to puck handle is also something the Wild lacked. The other thing is that GM Fletcher is going to take a hard run at Ryan Suter this summer in free agency and besides money selling to him a pairing with Gilbert makes it more feesable for Suter to land in MN. This Wild team is gonna be young next year which could look like this:

Parise-Koivu-Heatley
Cullen-Granlund-Setogucci
Zucker-Brodzniak-Clutterbuck
Kassian-Almond-Powe
Bulmer, Coyle, Larsson, Rau

Gilbert-Suter
Scandella-Spurgeon
Stoner-Falk-Cuma-Prosser

Backstrom
Hackett

Wow, the #1 defenceman by far for the Oilers traded away for a #3 defenceman in Minnesota. How you don't rate this as an absolute robbery by Minnesota shows that clearly lack any knowledge of the players at hand. This could be the worst trade by the Oilers in the past 10 years. RIDICULOUS!!!!

The mainstream media and casual fan claims Schultz is a solid defensive defenseman because he plays D and doesn't score points. When he was playing with Brent Burns, this may have been true. Now that Burns isn't around to clean up his mistakes, he's far less effective and has dropped down the depth chart accordingly.

Look beyond their reputations at the facts. Schultz has played the 5th toughest minutes among Wild defensemen this year and has the worst Corsi rating, meaning that Wild gets outchanced significantly when he's on the ice. These are the facts. His reputation as a solid defensive defenseman remains though, mostly because he doesn't score points. Unfortunately, a lack of offense is not an indicator of defensive proficiency.

Schultz is an alright acquisition in general for the Oilers to play on their second or third pairing. If the Oilers had traded Sutton or Peckham, it's an okay trade. In exchange for Tom Gilbert though, this is an absolute steal. Gilbert plays tough minutes in Edmonton and somehow manages to keep the scoring chances fairly even. Schultz plays easier minutes and gets shelled.

Huge loss for the Oilers. Gilbert plays the tough minutes well whereas Schultz plays the second toughest far less effectively. Gilbert can also move the puck up the ice and break out of the zone in way Schultz simply can't. Look deeper than reputation and you'll see Gilbert is the better player.

There's no question Edmonton could win this trade--Gilbert wasn't the offense-generator they hoped for, and Schultz brings a steady, responsible presence to the blue line. Exactly what Edmonton needed.

The only variable is how Schultz will adapt. Good, solid trade.

Almost a one-to-one deal here. We shall see how this works out, but my gut feeling is that the Wild just got a defenseman that could really help fill the hole created when Zidlicky was traded. Keeping fingers crossed again.

you know its a slow trade deadline day, when THIS is the big deal of the day...

undersized over achiever-Schultz always showed up to play and didn't miss many games--Good luck Nick you were a trooper ! The Wild claim to want an offensive defenseman--if so why was Burns traded ? Burns put up more points then either Zidlicky or Gilbert !!

I am not to happy with Flethcer right now we added $ and lost 1 of our own, If you can score goals stop them and thats what he did. Not sure Fletch knows what he is doing when it comes to D. 1st Nick Leddy, then Brent Burns and now Nick Schutlz. The more I write the more I want to get rid of my season tickets next year all $8500 worth of tickets

Win for Minnesota. The Wild need somebody who can get the puck out of their own zone and Schultz couldn't do that without icing the puck or missing his target with a pass. Good luck and good riddens.

WILD, WILD, WILD, What are we going to do with you. You need players that can put the puck in the net. 62 games in , and not one player over 20 goals. If your hooked on picking up minnesota players go get Parise ! Maybe you don't know this but He scores goals. TODAY WILD !

Chuck Fletcher Is Loosing His Mind. The most rock steady Dman we have EVER HAD and he gets traded for Gilbert? I knew the hockey gods were cruel to the Wild, but this is downright evil. im seriously stunned...

Schultzie nooooooo. Oh God Minessota's Mt. Puckmore is crumbling! Someone save the children!