[Rumour] Flames still trying to re-sign Russell

[Caged Great]

Even if you have to eat a million on either Smid/Engelland it would be cheaper than buying either of them out and it would be worthwhile for the other team at 2 million for next season.

[MarkGio]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I just don't see how you can expect Engelland or Smid to be moved. Flames are one of the worst teams in the league and both have been healthy scratches. Their contracts give them negative value. Wideman could have value if you retain salary. But I see him more likely to be moved at next years deadline.

Point is - Russell seems like the only who fetches a return.

Smid @50% retained -- 1.75 million. At the deadline that's only ~448K
Engelland @50% retained -- 1.458 million. At the deadline that's only ~373K

[Calgary4LIfe]

Russell gets a lot of hate, but I think he is a decent top 4 defencemen. Throw me in the group that thinks it is a good idea to re-sign him as long as the term and dollars are relatively low, or trade him if the return is high enough. He is often an undeserved (IMO) whipping boy on here. I don't think he should be in the long-term plans of this organization (3+ years), but if he is, he will be a damn good 5th defencemen on this team.

As for the prospects:

Nakladal is definitely deserving of a decent look. I wouldn't trade Russell away to give him that opportunity. The NHL is a different animal altogether than the AHL, and he will need to prove that he can play well in the NHL, but he is definitely looking great.

Kylington - there may not be a bigger fan of Kylington on here than myself. Can he play in the NHL next year? I think he will get some looks. I think he needs to put on a bit more size and continue working on his defensive game (which has been good in the AHL - he just needs to continue with it and gain further experience). You don't want to rush him and end up 'shultzing' him. Slow and steady wins the race.

Kulak - I thought Kulak became more and more tentative with his time in the NHL the longer he was up. To me, that is a kid that isn't ready to play (kind of like Brodie the year he was kept up). I think he will be a good top-4 defencemen in the long run. He has to earn his spot and retain his spot, however. You don't make room for Kulak at the moment. Kulak has to push people out of his way.

Wotherspoon - solid prospect, but.. just doesn't seem to take that 'next step' to improve, for whatever reason. I don't think at this point I would count on him to be anything other than an injury recall type of player. That is not to say that he won't be able to take that next step - if he does, he can be one of those steady defencemen that you don't have to worry about. It is just a bit frustrating to see him be 'almost ready' for the last couple of seasons, but not take that next step.

Culkin - I really liked him, but he may be on his way to becoming the next John Negrin in this organization. He hasn't been doing all that well on the stats sheet in the ECHL - 7 assists in 24 games - though I don't necessarily want to be one of those 'stat watchers'. I haven't watched a single game. I just figure with all his injuries in the last while, he has lost a lot of development time. Great all around player, but he has to play catch-up in his development.

I am not sure why Andersson is even being discussed - few players come out of the OHL directly into the NHL. He looked really impressive in camp, but he needs to show up in great shape (one of his weaknesses, and one that is being corrected which is great to see) and he needs to really push someone else out.

Russell is a solid #4 guy that you can throw out in any situation and not feel too worried. Is he top-pairing material? No. But you don't move this guy unless you have something better to replace him with. You also don't re-sign him to a long-term deal either. I hope that the offers are too good to pass up, but I don't see why he is a whipping boy on these forums. I don't see why Wideman is a whipping boy either for that matter - or why any of the defencemen have been. In my opinion, every defencemen has been playing at or above expectations for me in the last 20 or so games, though Wideman's goal output has dropped - but he has been relegated to bottom pairing anyways, and is at least contributing offensively.

I do think that in the next couple of seasons, you will start seeing some of the young defensive prospects push their way up onto the team, but in no way should the Flames be making room for them. Let them force it. Lots of prospects look like they are so ready to start contributing - even some that actually start contributing right away - but then start fizzling out.

Nakladal definitely deserves a look. Flames (Brodie aside) have been pretty healthy this season on the back-end. His time will come this season I would imagine, and hopefully that comes from an offer that is too good to refuse for Russell.

[killer_carlson]

My 2 cents:

1) He's playing like he's hurt right now, which is consistent with his getting maintenance days off. Not the best time to trade him.

2) He was good buddies with Glencross. Rightly or wrongly Glencross feels like he left a lot of $$$ on the table and ended up getting traded anyways. I'm sure that he's had that discussion with Russell at some point.

3) This is Russell's only shot at making big $$$ to set up his family for life.

4) I suspect Russell will not give a home town discount.

[MarkGio]

^^Ultimately those prospects will replace Wideman, Smid, Engelland and Russell 1-2 seasons from now.

I would part with Wideman and Smid to make room before parting with Russell.

[Monahan For Mayor]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ! Get rid of him please. I'd rather play Nakladal

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Even if you have to eat a million on either Smid/Engelland it would be cheaper than buying either of them out and it would be worthwhile for the other team at 2 million for next season.

Eating salary pretty much defeats the purpose of dealing them. The return won't be great, you have to pay their replacement plus whatever you retain. Doesn't help the salary cap situation much at all. Rssell is still the most tradeable asset and I just don't see him being signed. Team needs to improve vs. treading water IMO. I think his market value is between $3 and $4 million per.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Monahan For Mayor

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ! Get rid of him please. I'd rather play Nakladal

What? How could you say this when he's never played an NHL shift?

[ricardodw]

Right now Russell is playing as the #3 D-man. Hamilton for all the vast improvement is #4.

Since both disastrous starts Russell is +11 playing 22 minutes a game. Hamilton is +8. playing 19 minutes. This is throwing out October.


Russell gets more ice time than Hamilton in almost every game. That is amazing to me in that you would think that even if they were of equal talent Hamilton would play a dominate game and force the coaches to put him out more than Russell. It just hasn't happened. Not once have the Flame shorten their bench and put out Hamilton with Russell and then with Wideman.

I think that the Flames management is looking to re-sign Russell as their internal evaluation has shown that Hamilton is not ready (hockey smart enough) to be the lead d-man on a pairing.

When Russell was injured Wideman got more ice-time than Hamilton.

What UFA do you think the Flames would target in the off season to replace Russell as #3 ?

[The Fonz]

Russell has a lot more value than many on here realize. I'd prefer we trade him, as I think it'll take 4.5M, long term, to re-sign him, but I wouldn't be opposed to giving him that deal either (assuming it meant dealing Wideman and Smid).

[Matty81]

Subjective opinion but I think that's Kylington's spot in 2 years. He needs to shore up his defensive game but his offence is nhl level already.... He looks like a guy who could be an nhl all star by his mid 20s playing that well at 19 in what's arguably the 2nd best league in the world

So basically they just need a competent placeholder next year.

Russell should take all he can get and it makes no sense for the flames to go long term there. The glencross observation is a good one too... Decreases the likelihood of a discount

[Jason14h]

Subjective opinion but I think that's Kylington's spot in 2 years. He needs to shore up his defensive game but his offence is nhl level already.... He looks like a guy who could be an nhl all star by his mid 20s playing that well at 19 in what's arguably the 2nd best league in the world

This is a best case scenario.

It is so hard to predict where a prospect D end up. 2 years ago you could replace all the Kylington and Nakladal talk with Wotherspoon.

[Erick Estrada]

The fact that the Flames have been trying to months to get him signed and haven't tells me the Russell camp is asking for a dollar figure that is not going to be friendly to the team. IMO Treliving would be better off cutting bait and trading him at the deadline rather than making a deal he's going to regret. Russell is a serviceable defenseman but I feel the Wideman situation should be a good lesson for Treliving to fully know that once you sign a guy to one of these immovable deals you better be sure you are prepared to live with it until the very last season of the contract.

Bottom line is I don't want this guy on the Flames payroll on any sort of deal that isn't friendly to the Flames. He's just not that good at the end of the day to be warranting overpayment and having to go through the Wideman situation all over again where the team shops him for years and can't move him because of the contract.

This team is going to pick top 5 in the draft in June. Lets not reward guys like this for contributing to lottery picks.

[Vinny01]

If Kris Russell reads Spector articles he is posed to make north of $5M on a long term deal this summer. That would be a disaster for Calgary so they need to sell high and move him out. It is not unrealistic to think the Glencross return can be had for Russell

[Roof-Daddy]

If I was Russell, I'd be cashing in for top 4 D money as well.

He just watched his buddy Glencross miss the boat and retire after having his home town discount contract expire.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Not sure what "trying to sign" really means. BT said in his recent interview that he is reaching out to all of the UFAs to get a sense of what they want. If it is too much, he can look at deadline deals. If the price and term make sense, sure Russell is a decent asset.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

What UFA do you think the Flames would target in the off season to replace Russell as #3 ?

Well it is realistic to think that Dougie improves enough to be that number 3 next year. Just because he is not there at 22 doesn't mean he can't elevate to that position at 23. One player they could target is Brayden Coburn who is a LHD and lives in Calgary during the offseason.

[Badgers Nose]

Hopefully they can pay him and omit the NMC.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Just no. Move Russell and don't look back.

[IgiTang]

Am I the only one that would like to keep Smid and Engalland?

I think Smid has looked great in every game he has played. I'm confused why he doesn't get more games.

Wideman and to a lesser extent Russell have been turn over machines. But at least Russell doesn't get caught out of position that often and still brings the best of shot blocking in league.

Gio-Brodie
Smid-Hamilton
Russell-Engalland

Is a group I could handle after the deadline.
Keep your 6 and 7th spots open to start cycling the farm through.

Move Wideman for a pick and still have some beef and guys who can clear the front of the net.

Of course if Smid was required to be involved to make a trade work that brings us a stud, or if you can get a decent prospect back, move him.

But just to dump him, I don't see the sense in it.