“I grew up in Canada and wanted to play in a Canadian city. And watching the Oilers go to the Cup run (in ‘06), it looked like a pretty cool place to play. I fell in love right away.
“It’s a great city, great people. I don’t know who wouldn’t want to play there. There are a lot of great organizations around the league but Edmonton was a great fit for me.”
My betting streak of losses is intact. 29-1 odds for me and I still lose... but what a sweet loss it is. Thank you hockey Gods (and Schultz for picking the Oilers).
“I grew up in Canada and wanted to play in a Canadian city. And watching the Oilers go to the Cup run (in ‘06), it looked like a pretty cool place to play. I fell in love right away.
“It’s a great city, great people. I don’t know who wouldn’t want to play there. There are a lot of great organizations around the league but Edmonton was a great fit for me.”
While I don't doubt Tamby/Lowe/etc. put on a good pitch, the reason this situation is changing for us is because Hall/Eberle/RNH/Yakupov are here.
Hall in particular. Ive been saying for months I wanted him as part of the sales pitch. Hall is a leader, the main reason I decided shortly before his draft that he was the guy I wanted. Seguin is a great player too, but not that kind of personality IMO.
Twenty-six teams showed interest in him and Edmonton's sales pitch included phone calls from Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.
As it turns out, the Oilers secret weapon might have been new head coach Ralph Krueger, who sat down face-to-face with Schultz and quickly won him over.
"It was awesome when I met him and I'm really excited to hopefully get the opportunity to play for him," said Schultz.
"The core of young talented players they have there is very impressive," said Schultz. "To be able to have the opportunity to grow up and play with those will be pretty cool."
Along with president Kevin Lowe, VP of hockey ops Craig MacTavish, GM Steve Tambellini, coach Ralph Krueger and winger Taylor Hall, they went deep, getting Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey to call.
“I don’t think I said one word when they called. I was in shock,” admitted Schultz, who grew up in Kelowna, a Vancouver Canucks’ fan, but knows his history. “For them to even take the time to call me, that’s something I’ll never forget.”
“I want to be part of a young group here and if I make the team, hopefully we’ll be pretty close and hopefully we’ll bring the Cup here.”
Schultz went out of his way to say he was blown away by new Oilers’ coach Ralph Krueger, too in the Oilers sales pitch.
“When he was talking to me I was all fired up. I was getting chills,” said Schultz
Schultz says that Hall, Craig MacTavish, Kevin Lowe and Ralph Krueger made such great pitches that by the time Gretzky and Coffey phoned, he’d already made up his mind.
“Getting the call from the greatest player to play the game was pretty cool but I don’t know if it swayed my decision at all. I always kind of knew I wanted to play there.”
i havent felt this good since pronger and peca signed here. but this is that much better with all the kids growing up together and the direction management is going with building a team from the ground up. feels good man
29-1 odds for me and I still lose... but what a sweet loss it is. 
