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There have been rumors about the Edmonton Oilers re-signing Kris Russell to the tune of something like four-years, $4 million per. In this edition of the hotstove we discuss whether extending Russell to a deal like that, or at all, is a good idea.
Todd Cordell
I certainly don't think the Oilers should be looking to bring back Russell.
He had a pretty good start to the season, especially given expectations, but his numbers have gone down the drain. He's their worst defensemen in terms of Corsi For% (shot attempt differential) and High-Danger Scoring Chance For%. He's not good at exiting the zone and he's an easy target for opposing players when trying to gain the line with possession.
Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Andrej Sekera are all top-4 guys. Brandon Davidson has played like a top-4 guy when healthy. Matthew Benning has been a pleasant surprise and Mark Fayne/Darnell Nurse are capable of playing in a 3rd pairing role.
Even if the Oilers aren't sold on the group mentioned above they can easily find a serviceable blue liner in free agency without giving four-years and $16 million. Look at David Schlemko, Yohann Auvitu and Michal Kempny for just a few examples.
If the Oilers are going to re-up Russell, they should at least wait until he is not perceived to be playing well so they can knock the price down.
Matt Henderson
The answer to this is an unequivocal NO. They absolutely should not be signing Russell to either a long term extension nor to any high dollar value. It would be an unthinkably awful idea.
The facts are plain, the Oilers spend a significant amount of time in their own zone when Russell is on the ice. He is dead last in all of the most important shooting metrics we have available. Fenwick For%, Corsi For%, Shots For%, Scoring Chances For%, he's the lowest rated Oiler in everything.
The fact that we are even discussing this is crazy, and it's more than a little frustrating that his on-ice percentages are clearly driving the positive reviews of his game. He has a team high on-ice save percentage. Take him away from McDavid and the numbers are all significantly worse.
By using the fancy stats (that a lot of people absolutely hate), our attention gets drawn not to the heroic diving shot block that Russell makes, but to the seconds before then when he allows controlled zone entries or fails to make an outlet pass that gets brought right back in.
I have been told maybe 100 times to just "watch the game" when it comes to Russell and I can state with full confidence that I am. I am watching the game. I'm watching and the results are scary bad.
Extend Russell? My god, why?
Adam French
I don't like the term because Russell tends to be a possession nightmare and a shot blocking sponge. However, he has played very well for the Oilers this year and while all eyes are on Adam Larsson and a healthy Oscar Klefbom to fix the Oilers defense, it's really been a team effort from that top-4 (which also includes Sekera).
Russell is playing big minutes and important minutes and I don't see who can take those away from him next year. Is Nurse really ready to supplant him? Maybe, but can you really rest your hopes on that? Reinhart? He'd be lucky to be a 6th defender next season. Davidson has been a good 5-6 player, but his health has just been insanely unlucky. Benning is having a good start to his rookie season is still far too early to tell if he can be a full time NHL player.
So through necessity, Russell is the least of all the evils here. Especially since prospects like Bear, Jones and Lagesson are still far away, if they ever make it at all.
Can the Oilers gamble on premier players coming to them in Free Agency? Shattenkirk? Stone? Kulikov? Alzner? Old Man Markov? Even if any of them get to Free Agency there's no guarantee they sign there nor that they fit there.
Plus...if he doesn't get a NMC etc. he can be left at the altar for Las Vegas if he stinks it up near the end of the season.
Peter Tessier
Hell no! I put this out there on Twitter yesterday that it blows my mind that so much of hockey Twitter is debating the value of Kris Russell. How can this guy be such a lightning rod between traditionalists and analytics?
Why him? Maybe it's the Oilers maybe it's the numbers with him, but why does this player strike up so much controversy? For the simple reasons that he is a lightning rod of opinion I would think stay away from him. Ask this- how many other teams would/should pay 4 million a year for Kris Russell? If the answer is few and none then why should Edmonton?
This player is the exact type of player that requires every organization to have a 'bad idea guy' as HB alumni Travis Yost has said. Long term for 4 million with Russell you say, "that's a bad idea". Don't let bad ideas become bad reality, Kris Russell's are not the type of player you sign long term every team has one or two Edmonton you can break the trend.
James Tanner
The Oilers absolutely should not do this. Kris Russell is worse than just about any random player you would feasibly use to replace him.
That being said, he's like a litmus test for how you feel about today's game, so I am sure this hot-stove will feature forty people telling me that I don't know hockey because if I did I would appreciate his shot blocking abilities and hard-nosed style.
Unfortunately, just about anything you could use to measure his performance shows that virtually every team he's ever played for gets better when he heads to the bench.
Russell is a classic example of the overrated high-impact player in that the two things that he does - hit and block shots - are very visible, often memorable occurrences. Unfortunately, while he might look good doing it, those things don't tend to positively effect hockey games as much as we've been indoctrinated to believe.
So no, the Oilers should not sign him. They shouldn't even play him.
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