The cap is going up, not down, and the Oilers wanted him last summer and look what it did for their defense?
- leonkennedy

What does the rising cap matter? More money to waste you mean? Pc obviously felt he needed to save dollars so he dealt bs for a huge savings. Fine

But then to overspend on Russel? That's crazy. The term is the real kick in the balls too. Not actually the cap. I'll bet anyone we're regretting it before his 3rd sEason.
maybe even earlier.

One of the oilers weaknesses was defence . At least in terms of the teams we wouldn't even gotten by in Anaheim and nashville.
So we handcuff ourselves to him dollars wise and with the sekera deal already in place we can't even afford to upgrade even if we want to now really.
AND if nurse or Ben do improve , are we gonna pay Russell 4 mil to play 3rd pairing ?
Or be forced to move one of them cause of the no move we just handed out .

And he helped make our defence NHL quality- but cmon/ klefbom and Larsson were way bigger additions. Guy has a Ton of drawbacks. Barely second pairing

I dunno- it's an insane deal that makes no sense other than a panic move cause sekera is hurt and pc was worried he couldn't get anyone else in free agency.
I'd've way rather signed a true 3rd pairing guy short term amd move one of the kids to second pairing and gambled till sekera was back.

Talbot was there the year before, he let in a lot of goals without both of them. Clearly it isn't just one Dman, playing 20 mins a night who is solely responsible for the improvement.

Bottom line is Russell is an NHL Dman regardless of what the Fantasy stats say. Which pushed guys like Nurse, benning, davidson, gryba to the bottom, as opposed to being forced into a role they weren't ready for.
- leonkennedy

why are you bothering to explain, you should just

Talbot was there the year before, he let in a lot of goals without both of them. Clearly it isn't just one Dman, playing 20 mins a night who is solely responsible for the improvement.

Bottom line is Russell is an NHL Dman regardless of what the Fantasy stats say. Which pushed guys like Nurse, benning, davidson, gryba to the bottom, as opposed to being forced into a role they weren't ready for.
- leonkennedy

Yes, as a backup shifting into a starting role with a brand new team. Anyway, enjoy a bottom pair PK specialist at 4x4. Hope your heart can take it.

Nope. You will be playing with Fire if he is your number 3. He did play well in the playoffs for both the Flames and You Bozo's but regular season he is a dumpster fire. You realize Russell will be making more than Brodie next year.
- DuranDuran

I would imagine Russells 5 mil next year is going to be more than a lot of dmen better than him in the NHL will be making. Doesn't exactly hurt the Oil this season and if he brings what he brought last season, then great. The team somehow managed 103pts with him in the lineup.

What does the rising cap matter? More money to waste you mean? Pc obviously felt he needed to save dollars so he dealt bs for a huge savings. Fine

But then to overspend on Russel? That's crazy. The term is the real kick in the balls too. Not actually the cap. I'll bet anyone we're regretting it before his 3rd sEason.
maybe even earlier.

One of the oilers weaknesses was defence . At least in terms of the teams we wouldn't even gotten by in Anaheim and nashville.
So we handcuff ourselves to him dollars wise and with the sekera deal already in place we can't even afford to upgrade even if we want to now really.
AND if nurse or Ben do improve , are we gonna pay Russell 4 mil to play 3rd pairing ?
Or be forced to move one of them cause of the no move we just handed out .

And he helped make our defence NHL quality- but cmon/ klefbom and Larsson were way bigger additions. Guy has a Ton of drawbacks. Barely second pairing

I dunno- it's an insane deal that makes no sense other than a panic move cause sekera is hurt and pc was worried he couldn't get anyone else in free agency.
I'd've way rather signed a true 3rd pairing guy short term amd move one of the kids to second pairing and gambled till sekera was back.
- Ihateallofu

My only concern with that is you'd be asking both Nurse and Benning to play the second pairing and trusting Gryba and another "true 3rd pairing guy" to the bottom pairing. At least with Russell we'd only be asking that of one of them. I hope that Chia at least makes a move for another young an cheap 3rd pairing guy that might be able to play up for a while and swap in and out with Benning once Seksy returns.

Yes, as a backup shifting into a starting role with a brand new team. Anyway, enjoy a bottom pair PK specialist at 4x4. Hope your heart can take it.
- dr_soiledpants

He did wonders for my heart last year. Did you see the standings and how far they went in the playoffs with Russell's steady play?
Why are you window lickers talking like Russell is brand new to the team?

Doesn't matter if you think Russell is a good player or not. This is a terrible deal. Oil traded Eberle because of the cap space implications and they turned around and signed a player who is going to be a bigger cap issue within a year.

One step forward... four steps back...
- freelancer

He negatively effected the defense. Look what Talbot and Larsson* did for your defense is a more accurate statement.
- dr_soiledpants

Shots against and possession were awful with Russel on the ice. WHats to argue here? ?

I'd've been cool with a year cause of the position we're in with sekers injury. Maybe even 2. But pc just got suckered . And the no move !?
I thought he was smarter than this.

I didn't hate the Eberle deal so much because I figured it was to open space for Driasaitl, McDavid extensions plus Pulju is in the pipeline. But I'm going to have to agree with Iggy when he blows his stack on this one.
- smellmyfinger

Just Chia being Chia...

Chiarelli is officially an Idiot.

This is way worse than the Andrew Ferrence signing you mungers hated so much.

Shots against and possession were awful with Russel on the ice. WHats to argue here? ?

I'd've been cool with a year cause of the position we're in with sekers injury. Maybe even 2. But pc just got suckered . And the no move !?
I thought he was smarter than this.
- Ihateallofu

Welcome brother.

Chiarelli is officially an Idiot.

This is way worse than the Andrew Ferrence signing you mungers hated so much.
- Larsson_fan

No no...they all loved the Ference signing at first remember?

My only concern with that is you'd be asking both Nurse and Benning to play the second pairing and trusting Gryba and another "true 3rd pairing guy" to the bottom pairing. At least with Russell we'd only be asking that of one of them. I hope that Chia at least makes a move for another young an cheap 3rd pairing guy that might be able to play up for a while and swap in and out with Benning once Seksy returns.
- MaximumBone

IM still hoping he does somthing positive

But now that he's made this deal- we can't even really afford to upgrade for any term

So it's prob a stop gap plug

- AlEx_OiL

Exacto! El juega hockey como tu querido Tongo toca guitarra!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeS_lZySMf8

What does the rising cap matter? More money to waste you mean? Pc obviously felt he needed to save dollars so he dealt bs for a huge savings. Fine

But then to overspend on Russel? That's crazy. The term is the real kick in the balls too. Not actually the cap. I'll bet anyone we're regretting it before his 3rd sEason.
maybe even earlier.

One of the oilers weaknesses was defence . At least in terms of the teams we wouldn't even gotten by in Anaheim and nashville.
So we handcuff ourselves to him dollars wise and with the sekera deal already in place we can't even afford to upgrade even if we want to now really.
AND if nurse or Ben do improve , are we gonna pay Russell 4 mil to play 3rd pairing ?
Or be forced to move one of them cause of the no move we just handed out .

And he helped make our defence NHL quality- but cmon/ klefbom and Larsson were way bigger additions. Guy has a Ton of drawbacks. Barely second pairing

I dunno- it's an insane deal that makes no sense other than a panic move cause sekera is hurt and pc was worried he couldn't get anyone else in free agency.
I'd've way rather signed a true 3rd pairing guy short term amd move one of the kids to second pairing and gambled till sekera was back.
- Ihateallofu

Is it a panic move or is it because perhaps PC and the coaching staff realized he did something for the team last year? Maybe having coachable players is better than those guys ya can't coach. *ahem* Yakupov

As for moving Benning or Nurse to second pairing? Why rush them? Give them another year or 2 in the bottom pairing, and move up to fill in for injuries short term. Letting young players develop in a sheltered role is something the Oilers haven't had the luxury of having in a very long time.

Do you think that anyone n the position of making decisions for the oilers reads your drivel? You are brutal at blogging. I have no doubt you have never played the game of hockey on anything other than a playstation.

Wow, you guys female dog A LOT.

Still 20 million in cap room. Pouliot may still be moved, hell, Nuge may be moved still.

Russell is a good defenseman, he proved that last year. Shove your analytics up your asses.

Do you think that anyone n the position of making decisions for the oilers reads your drivel? You are brutal at blogging. I have no doubt you have never played the game of hockey on anything other than a playstation.
- OGoilerfan

Oh cool. The "have you ever played" arguement.

Wow, you guys female dog A LOT.

Still 20 million in cap room. Pouliot may still be moved, hell, Nuge may be moved still.

Russell is a good defenseman, he proved that last year. Shove your analytics up your asses.
- FransNielson

(frank) off JB.

Exacto! El juega hockey como tu querido Tongo toca guitarra!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeS_lZySMf8
- DuranDuran

Tongo es mejor que Burke en todo

Do you think that anyone n the position of making decisions for the oilers reads your drivel? You are brutal at blogging. I have no doubt you have never played the game of hockey on anything other than a playstation.
- OGoilerfan