Long-time NHLer Justin Schultz signs with Switzerland’s HC Lugano

Long-time NHL defenseman Justin Schultz, who won two Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, signed a one-year deal with HC Lugano in Switzerland’s top league, the National League (NL).

“Justin is a two-way defender. We are confident that his experience can help us in the second half of the season,” HC Lugano General Manager Hnat Domenichelli said.

The 34-year-old Schultz spent the last two seasons with the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, where scored 14 goals and 46 assists for 60 points, averaging more than 17 minutes of ice time in 143 regular-season games.

Through 12 NHL seasons, Schultz, drafted in the second round by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, has 71 goals and 253 assists for 324 points in 745 regular-season games with the Kraken, Penguins, Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers.

His best statistical season in the NHL was in 2016-17, when in 78 regular-season games, he hit career highs across the board, recording 12 goals and 39 assists for 51 points, averaging 20:27 of ice time.

Schultz also played in 81 Stanley Cup Playoff games, scoring 10 goals and 32 assists for 42 points. During the Penguins’ 2017 Stanley Cup run, the right-handed defender had four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 21 games, helping them win their second of back-to-back championships.

Before turning professional, Schultz had spent two full seasons with the Westside Warriors of the British Columbia Hockey League. After scoring 15 goals and 50 points in 49 games in 2008-09, Schultz committed to the NCAA’s University of Wisconsin. Through three seasons with the Badgers, Schultz scored 40 goals and 73 assists for 113 points in 121 regular-season games.

During his sophomore and junior seasons at Wisconsin, he won the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year awards, just the third defenseman in history to do so.