Kris Russell Discussion

[waner]

Originally Posted by goflamesgo18

i couldn't name 4 defenceman on every team who are playing better than russell right now.

These are guys Russell would be behind if on those teams:

LA: Doughty, Muzzin, Regeher, Greene, Martinez (Voynov when not suspended)
Chicago: Keith, Seabrook, Halmarsson, Oduya
St. Louis: Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Shattenkirk, Gunnarsson, Jackman, Cole
Anaheim: Lindholm, Fowler, Beauchemin, Vaatanen
San Jose: Vlasic, Braun, Burns- Mueller and Russell maybe even
Minnesota- Suter, Spurgeon, Scandella, Brodin, Dumba
Nashville- Jones, Weber, Josi, Ellis, Ekholm

That's the top teams in the West. For some of the "good" teams in the East he may be the 4th guy.

Russell works for us during the rebuild on the 2nd pairing but he is 3rd pairing guy for a contending team.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by waner

These are guys Russell would be behind if on those teams:

LA: Doughty, Muzzin, Regeher, Greene, Martinez (Voynov when not suspended)
Chicago: Keith, Seabrook, Halmarsson, Oduya
St. Louis: Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Shattenkirk, Gunnarsson, Jackman, Cole
Anaheim: Lindholm, Fowler, Beauchemin, Vaatanen
San Jose: Vlasic, Braun, Burns- Mueller and Russell maybe even
Minnesota- Suter, Spurgeon, Scandella, Brodin, Dumba
Nashville- Jones, Weber, Josi, Ellis, Ekholm

That's the top teams in the West. For some of the "good" teams in the East he may be the 4th guy.

Russell works for us during the rebuild on the 2nd pairing but he is 3rd pairing guy for a contending team.

I'd take Russell over the players in bold any day, and I'd argue Vaatanen and Ellis too.

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I'd take Russell over the players in bold any day, and I'd argue Vaatanen and Ellis too.

Some of those names are arguable, but you would take Russell over Beauchemin?

[Yanda]

Originally Posted by DOOM

Some of those names are arguable, but you would take Russell over Beauchemin?

Thats not the point. Hes really carried the play for his pairing, without that I dont think the flames would have any of the success there having.

The defense has really jumped into the play off the rush this season and Russell's shown that hes more than a 3rd pairing defensemen.

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by Yanda

Thats not the point. Hes really carried the play for his pairing, without that I dont think the flames would have any of the success there having.

The defense has really jumped into the play off the rush this season and Russell's shown that hes more than a 3rd pairing defensemen.

Besides tonight, Russell has been fine, its still a small size sample though.

Last year he started off really hot when it came to putting up points and faded down the stretch.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

The Flames won't be a true contender for at least 2 or 3 years, so we'll see where he's fitting in then. If he's a 5/6 then you put him on the 3rd pairing or upgrade.

Until then he's fine. He's been a fantastic pick up, just had a really rough night tonight. It happens.

[agulati]

I see Russell as a 4/5 guy. For most teams he can fit in the second pairing, but for the truely elite, he is a great 15/16 minute (decent chunk PP time) player. He could develop more but as of right now, he is doing really well for the Flames

[GioforPM]

Russell got tons of praise in the games before last night. I think he almost played with too much confidence. Risky plays.

[calumniate]

I don't blame Russell for that giveaway last night really, but I do blame the coaches. Seems like they've hammered it down their throat that this is the go-to play.

You can see it coming a hundred miles away though now, and it's starting to cost us. But if that's what the coach is telling you to do there isn't much choice in the matter..

Drop pass on the PP, fine. But it should be more like a read option against a blitz type of thing, not a glaringly obvious dumb dumb set play

[flamesfever]

I think Russell played exceedingly well last night, except for that glaring error which cost us a goal. I believe he has been a very important part of our success to date.

[flamesfever]

Not to derail this thread, but I believe another player who doesn't get enough credit, for what he brings to the table, is Byron. Although I believe his lack of puck luck has kept the gang quiet, and hopefully will turn around for him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by calumniate

I don't blame Russell for that giveaway last night really, but I do blame the coaches. Seems like they've hammered it down their throat that this is the go-to play.

You can see it coming a hundred miles away though now, and it's starting to cost us. But if that's what the coach is telling you to do there isn't much choice in the matter..

Drop pass on the PP, fine. But it should be more like a read option against a blitz type of thing, not a glaringly obvious dumb dumb set play

I doubt the coach said to do the drop pass every time, or when it was too risky. The goal they scored was on a sideline entry. I think it isa read option, and he read it wrong. Mistakes happen.

[Rhubarb]

Maybe its just me but the expectations for some players on this board is bordering on ludicrous. Seems to me that the grass is always greener on the other side, everyones players are better than ours, and even when stats disproving that other players are better they are not taken into account. I have seen posts on this site insinuating that our third line should have 3 fifty point players on it, based on where they think our current players should be; somebody show me a team that has 3 fifty point players on it, on the third line, which leads me to Russell.

Nothing I have seen to this point with Russell says he can't be a legitimate 2nd pairing defencemen, on any team. Pair him up with someone like a young regher, and you have the makings of an excellent 2nd pairing group. bump Wideman down to the third and get a solid stay at home type with good skating to work with Russell and even the craziest of homers on this board would struggle to find fault ( even though I know they would)

He thinks the game well, has good vision, excellent skating, good passing, decent shot, is a team player, and for me part of the success this year ( and even the anti flames die hards on the networks have praised Calgary's defence ) can be layed on the doorstep of Russell.

[chubeyr1]

Whats with the hate on Russell?

We got him for nothing really. Exceeded expectations by a mile.
plays on the second pairing. Should he be on the third pairing? I would love that, meaning we have better guys than him, but we don't.

Russell is a mini Gio. Passion work ethic and skill that we got for nothing. Don't blame the player for being on the second pairing on D when on a good team he is on the 3rd pairing.

Russell had a really bad game, 1 game. He has been a horse up until this, and one of the bright spots on the team for sure.

How can we argue about Russell?

[Caged Great]

Russell also got his face smashed into the net (metal bar behind the post) early in the game, and that might have thrown his off his game (that's where the cuts on his cheek came from).

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Russell also got his face smashed into the net (metal bar behind the post) early in the game, and that might have thrown his off his game (that's where the cuts on his cheek came from).

That was really ugly. I thought he might lose teeth.

Russell had a bad bad game. He has been good up until that one. He'll be good again. Hopefully tomorrow.

[PeteMoss]

On this team Russell is clearly the 3rd defenseman and a mile ahead of the non Giordano/Brodie guys.

Not sure why you'd split up Giordano and Brodie though.

[waner]

Originally Posted by chubeyr1

Whats with the hate on Russell?

We got him for nothing really. Exceeded expectations by a mile.
plays on the second pairing. Should he be on the third pairing? I would love that, meaning we have better guys than him, but we don't.

Russell is a mini Gio. Passion work ethic and skill that we got for nothing. Don't blame the player for being on the second pairing on D when on a good team he is on the 3rd pairing.

Russell had a really bad game, 1 game. He has been a horse up until this, and one of the bright spots on the team for sure.

How can we argue about Russell?

Is there a hate for Russel in this thread?

Most people are debating what his role would be on a contending team a 3/4 guy or 4/5 guy. I don't think that is hating on him.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

Not to derail this thread, but I believe another player who doesn't get enough credit, for what he brings to the table, is Byron. Although I believe his lack of puck luck has kept the gang quiet, and hopefully will turn around for him.

Maybe it's just me but the guy reminds me so much of Dustin Boyd. You wait and wait and wait for him to put it all together and he never does.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Maybe it's just me but the guy reminds me so much of Dustin Boyd. You wait and wait and wait for him to put it all together and he never does.

I dunno, while we waited for Boyd he did basically nothing. Byron still brings energy and grit even if he's not scoring yet