I'm a big believer that size does matter, both up front and on the backend. That said Russell is still an effective defensive defensemen IMO. More effective on the bottom pairing but he fills in adequately in the top 4. He does the best he can to defend at his size. It's pretty impressive how well he does it IMO. Ideally I wouldn't have any sub 6'0 defenders but Russell can still play on my team.
I understand why some people want to move on. Personally I'd take him back as our #5 if he was willing to sign a hometown discount but that looks unlikely. Too little seems to be made of his character and intangibles which I think is one of the points Lou was attempting to articulate. There is a certain value in having good veterans around to be an example for your young players how to play, how to work, how to sacrifice, how to be a team player, how to play through pain, etc. I think Russell and Engelland's contributions in that area have been under appreciated by some. Wotherspoon and Nakladal are coming into a much better situation to succeed being played as 3rd pairing guys on a defense that has a lot of solid, hard working veterans to look up to. Much better situation that some other rebuilding teams put their prospect d-men into.
I just hope people are appreciative of what Russell has done for us. He led the defense last year with Gio out, played through a broken hand, helped us win a playoff series vs the hated Canucks and now will presumably get us a pretty nice haul at the deadline. Thanks Kris, you played your heart out and were a true warrior for us despite your diminutive stature.
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