Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
Hamilton has been here 4 months, and has made poorer decisions than Russell. He's a kid. He'll get to 25 minutes a night, but this is not Dougie Hamilton's year.
It also stands to reason Russell would play more than Gio at even strength. he is as good match against most bottom six players - with top forwards typically playing ~20 minutes a night anyway, I would expect Hartley to deploy the captain against them. Throw in special teams and you're pushing 23-25 minutes a night.
If the Flames had an actual 3rd pairing, Kris Russell would play less. And if the Flames had four D better, he'd be on the 3rd pair where he belongs. But they only have three
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No. Just no. Russell makes the worst decisions of any of the Flames defensemen, and that says something with Wideman on the team. Russell just continues to make dumb play after dumb play in his own zone, leading to giveaways and situations where he has to block a shot to make up for his stupidity. Hartley loves him some Russell, because Russell is willing to sacrifice his body to prevent a scoring opportunity. Sadly, there would be less scoring opportunities if Russell would pull his head out of his hockey pants and make the smart play rather that the predictable play. Not a smart player and not a good defenseman.