Former Oiler appears to blame fans for his poor performance with the team.

Did he really just say that?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 7 years ago
Former Oiler appears to blame fans for his poor performance with the team.
Keystone Press.

Just when you thought former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz couldn't possibly be any more unpopular in the city of Edmonton he goes out and proves all of the doubters wrong.

Schultz, who is now fresh off a Stanley Cup victory with the Penguins, was recently interviewed for the Post-Gazette and during that interview he was asked the following question:

Ultimately, what didn't' work with the Oilers?

We wanted to transcribe the question word for word, because Schultz's answer, seemingly an attempt to blame the fans in Edmonton, was frankly an unbelievable response.

"It's tough to say. The fans starting getting on me. The media is crazy there. It's a lot of attention. You have to expect that. But once the fans starting turning on me, I don't think there's any coming back from that. I couldn't find any consistency in Edmonton for whatever reason. I don't know. It just wasn't the right fit. I've moved on."

Schultz is a young man, and at just 25 years old it's not too hard to empathize with his struggles and the possible impact the pressure of the market could have had on his psyche. But with that said, to blame what was consistently poor performance on the pressure from the fan base is not a good look for Schultz, especially when he should be taking the high road after such a major achievement in his career. Furthermore it needs to be said that if chirping from fans can be enough to take him off his game, there is no telling how or when that could happen again.

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