I don't want Russell re-signed. He is not an irreplaceable player and he isn't that good. This team is still in a rebuild and it needs to free up spots for other guys to play when they can. Also, since it seems Russell has trade value and is on an expiring contract, why not take advantage of that and trade him if you can? If the Flames are worse off for now without him, then so be it. I don't think it'll be worth it to re-sign Kris Russell.
This team is likely stuck with the contracts of Wideman, Smid, Engelland, Stajan & at least 2.2 million of Raymond's contract until at least the end of next year, and these guys cannot be moved IMO unless you want to go the buyout route with them, or take on another equally bad or worse contract in exchange. Just because these guys are on our team with bad contracts should not give us any excuse to re-sign Russell for 5+ million plus term and maybe a NTC or NMC and create another bad contract on this team.
If, for some reason, Russell isn't traded, I'd rather just let him sign somewhere else for however much that GM wants.
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