Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashasx
For a lot of people, Russell fails the eye test just as much as the analytics test.
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He's been worse this year than last. Personally I think he's been playing through injuries all season and I'm guessing if you asked Hartley that would be the case.
But it seems as if some people have erased last season from their minds. Russell made Wideman look like a competent defenseman last year. How good was he when Gio went down and everyone thought we had no chance at the playoffs? How good was he in the first round? How many of you have conveniently forgotten that? Seems like a lot of you have. Too many.
Russell isn't a top 4 d-man IMO. He's a perfect #5 who Hartley overuses because we didn't have a better option. That kind of depth defensemen will still be valued highly at the deadline and at UFA. If guys like Andrew MacDonald and Matt Carle get 5 million then Russell is comparable to guys like that. If guys like Roman Polak get you two 2nds then Russell is comparable to that.
He's still underrated by many here.