Minnesota Wild Assistant General Manager Tom Lynn headed to Toronto early last week to begin preparations for arbitration cases with Kurtis Foster, Derek Boogaard and Nick Schultz. Lynn is now able to head back home after the Wild avoided arbitration with all three with the signing of Schultz on Monday. An arbitration hearing was scheduled for Thursday between the two sides.

Schultz, a second round pick of the club in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, agreed to a one-year deal, meaning he'll be back for his sixth NHL season in Minnesota.

Schultz has been synonymous with reliability and steadiness. The 6-foot-1, 201 pound defenseman played in all 82 games last season, and has not missed a game due to injury since missing one game with a shoulder contusion during his rookie season in 2001-2002. Schultz led the team with 141 blocked shots and posted a plus-two rating last season, playing mostly alongside Kim Johnsson. He ranks third on the Wild's all-time list in both games played (367) and career plus/minus (+25).