Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda
When Calgary can churn out fantastic late bloomer defencemen like Gio, Brodie, and now Russell, it must certainly help to sway potential free agents who want to develop into impact players
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I wouldn't call Brodie a late bloomer. This is the fourth straight season where he'll play more than half the Flames' games and he hasn't even celebrated his 25th birthday. If anything, he was an early bloomer.
Russell was also an NHL regular at the age of 20 and had more than 300 NHL games under his belt before he joined the Flames. He struggled in St Louis, but had decent stats in Columbus. Now, he's 27, which is about the age where defencemen hit their prime.