The problem with signing Russell is the timing. It is the same offseason that has raises for Giordano (known), Gaudreau and Monahan (unknown) kicking in, not to mention whether Hudler is retained or another UFA is signed as a top 6 forward, and then there is also a lot of dead money on the defence in Smid, Engelland, Wideman. It is not so much of a problem when those contracts come off the books, but in committing money to Russell now, before moving out at least one of that trio of 5-7 D on big contracts, it could handcuff Treliving. If the Flames could even move one of those guys, the impact is lessened - e.g. take Smid's 3.5M, split that to around 900K on an ELC player and the rest goes towards Russell's raise. But then there needs to be money for the forwards - can the team justify 5 D making more than 4M?
If Treliving can wizard one/both of Monahan and Gaudreau onto Huberdeau style bridge contracts, that alleviates the short term pain, but then you end up going into RFA negotiations in 2 years with players in their prime, holding more bargaining chits
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