Gretzky, Coffey called Justin Schultz on Oilers’ behalf

For a guy who’s never played a shift of NHL hockey,* unrestricted free agent defenseman Justin Schultz sure has the league’s many teams tripping over their own feet to impress him. Depending on whose rumors you consume, the likes of the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild are among the frontrunners. Still, the Edmonton Oilers are high on the list of “teams who could really use Schultz” and they’re pulling out all the stops.

Apparently that means having Oilers legends Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey give him a call to pump the team up in his eyes, as Darren Dreger reports.

Who knows how much of a difference that will make, but for a franchise that – to many – hasn’t done much right, this is a commendable gamble. Schultz gets the best of both worlds, too; even if he doesn’t sign with the Oilers, he’s one of the few humans who can say that Gretzky and Coffey tried to “pitch” to him.

(He better be good, huh?)

* – Or maybe partially because he hasn’t played a shift of hockey, and thus, will be relatively cheap thanks the the entry-level maximum limits …