[Signing] Oilers sign Kris Russell (1 yr, ~$3.1 mil)

[GGG]

Good move for the oilers. He is good in the 5 role and can for short periods be a 4. It's an over payment for what he brings but no risk for the oilers and fills a hole nicely.

It's similar to our Eglland deal but without the term. Heart and sole guy that doesn't affect your cap in a position of need. It's the Kind of move they should have made when they first drafted Hall.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Locke

I wont begrudge him getting paid. Take as many dollars out of Katz's pocket as you can.

[GioforPM]

He skates as well as anyone on their defence IMO. But his lack of ability to take, keep and exit the puck in his own zone won't help their defensive play, especially with the lack of help the forwards give on that team.

I'd wish him good luck except it's the wrong team.

[Keselke]

Some baffling responses,

Its a 1 year deal the dollar amount is irrelevant

It makes their team better

Obviously the degree in which it makes them more competitive will be played out.

[bob-loblaw]

They're thrilled about him in Edmonton.

[CalgaryFan1988]

I'm just happy he didn't end up in Calgary on a multi-year deal.

[N-E-B]

He's a solid 4-5 guy but that's all he is. I would have taken him back on the Flames but the timing and money didn't work out. It's only for a year, I'm sure he'll wise up next year.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

He skates as well as anyone on their defence IMO. But his lack of ability to take, keep and exit the puck in his own zone won't help their defensive play, especially with the lack of help the forwards give on that team.

I'd wish him good luck except it's the wrong team.

There sure is a lot of homerism and wishful negative thinking in analyzing the Oilers/Flames relationship.

Oilers (counting Ference's LTIR) have 11.2M in cap space

Flames (counting Smid's LTIR) have 10.6M in cap space less whatever they sign Gaudreau for.

Improvements the Oilers made over last year.

Added Lucic, Maroon, Puljarvi Russell, Larson, (Klefboom and McDavid their #1 forward and defenseman each missed half a season last year)

They dumped Yakapov and Shultz, basically the equivalent of the Flames dumping Raymond and Chris Butler.

Tell me which of the Oilers top-9 would not be in the Flames top-9

Eberle-McDavid-Lucic
Maroon-Draistl-Polliot
Puljarvi-RNH-Kassian

And before you jump all over Kassian keep in mind that the Flames top have two of Ferland, Chassion and Shinkaruk still penciled in the top-9 along with Tkachuck.

On defense which of their top 7 does not start with the Flames? Would the Flames #4 Wideman/Jokipakka be a significant upgrade on the Oilers top-7?

Klefboom-Larsson
Nurse-Fayne
Sekera-Russell
Davidson

Last year Russell was #3 on the Flames and #3 on the Stars for 12 playoff games.

Last year the Flames were 3-1-1 against the Oilers 7 pts to 4.....and only 7 pts ahead of the oilers in the standings.

I think that that the points that the Flames win in the BOA this year will be important, well earned and celebrated.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by getbak

I wonder if Lowe will let him wear #4, or if that's only reserved for First Overall picks?

Looks like he will.

Edmonton Oilers @EdmontonOilers
Kris Russell will wear 4 for the #Oilers.

[red sky]

Any one care to post that goal that Brouwer scored last playoffs where he made Russell look foolish?

[May 25, 1989]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

There sure is a lot of homerism and wishful negative thinking in analyzing the Oilers/Flames relationship.

Oilers (counting Ference's LTIR) have 11.2M in cap space

Flames (counting Smid's LTIR) have 10.6M in cap space less whatever they sign Gaudreau for.

Improvements the Oilers made over last year.

Added Lucic, Maroon, Puljarvi Russell, Larson, (Klefboom and McDavid their #1 forward and defenseman each missed half a season last year)

They dumped Yakapov and Shultz, basically the equivalent of the Flames dumping Raymond and Chris Butler.

Tell me which of the Oilers top-9 would not be in the Flames top-9

Eberle-McDavid-Lucic
Maroon-Draistl-Polliot
Puljarvi-RNH-Kassian

And before you jump all over Kassian keep in mind that the Flames top have two of Ferland, Chassion and Shinkaruk still penciled in the top-9 along with Tkachuck.

On defense which of their top 7 does not start with the Flames? Would the Flames #4 Wideman/Jokipakka be a significant upgrade on the Oilers top-7?

Klefboom-Larsson
Nurse-Fayne
Sekera-Russell
Davidson

Last year Russell was #3 on the Flames and #3 on the Stars for 12 playoff games.

Last year the Flames were 3-1-1 against the Oilers 7 pts to 4.....and only 7 pts ahead of the oilers in the standings.

I think that that the points that the Flames win in the BOA this year will be important, well earned and celebrated.

Might want to include the subtraction of Taylor Hall in your analysis which is a bit worse then the Flames dumping Raymond and Butler.

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

There sure is a lot of homerism and wishful negative thinking in analyzing the Oilers/Flames relationship.

Oilers (counting Ference's LTIR) have 11.2M in cap space

Flames (counting Smid's LTIR) have 10.6M in cap space less whatever they sign Gaudreau for.

Improvements the Oilers made over last year.

Added Lucic, Maroon, Puljarvi Russell, Larson, (Klefboom and McDavid their #1 forward and defenseman each missed half a season last year)

They dumped Yakapov and Shultz, basically the equivalent of the Flames dumping Raymond and Chris Butler.

Tell me which of the Oilers top-9 would not be in the Flames top-9

Eberle-McDavid-Lucic
Maroon-Draistl-Polliot
Puljarvi-RNH-Kassian

And before you jump all over Kassian keep in mind that the Flames top have two of Ferland, Chassion and Shinkaruk still penciled in the top-9 along with Tkachuck.

On defense which of their top 7 does not start with the Flames? Would the Flames #4 Wideman/Jokipakka be a significant upgrade on the Oilers top-7?

Klefboom-Larsson
Nurse-Fayne
Sekera-Russell
Davidson

Last year Russell was #3 on the Flames and #3 on the Stars for 12 playoff games.

Last year the Flames were 3-1-1 against the Oilers 7 pts to 4.....and only 7 pts ahead of the oilers in the standings.

I think that that the points that the Flames win in the BOA this year will be important, well earned and celebrated.

Hmmm...I seem to recall edmonton having another first overall pick, their top scorer last year, notably absent from their dumped list.

I believe edmonton will have a strong start this year, but by November when injuries pile up for every team, it will be the same string of excuses. There is no top pairing defenseman on that team and no depth. As individuals Edmonton has a decent top 9, but there is no balance. Who on that top line is going to play defense (or on any of the top 3 lines for that matter). If edmonton is up by one with 10 minutes to play, I wouldn't want any of those guys on the ice. It's a team built with individuals, sexy names and toe drag specialists, which had been their problem for the last decade.

[Poe969]

pulju probably won't make the team, or shouldn't anyway. Eberle isn't that good and lucic will look so slow next to McJesus. They really look pretty bad. Their D is atrocious and goalies are below average.

They'll continue to be a joke and they'll find all kinds of excuses again for another top 5 pick.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

On defense which of their top 7 does not start with the Flames?

of course most of those would start with the Flames, but certainly not on a top pairing. You called Klefbom their #1 defender ... things are pretty bleak when Klefbom is your #1 defender. He'd probably be a #3 or #4 in Calgary, as would Larsson. The Oilers have assembled quite a number of 2nd and 3rd pairing defensemen, but they still have no legitimate top pairing, and that's the real issue here.

That being said, I will give them credit for trying to fix their defense and they surely got a bit better. Larsson and Russell are quite a bit better than Schultz and Gryba, no doubt about it. All it's cost them is two 1st overalls. Peanuts.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by tkflames

Hmmm...I seem to recall edmonton having another first overall pick, their top scorer last year, notably absent from their dumped list.

I believe edmonton will have a strong start this year, but by November when injuries pile up for every team, it will be the same string of excuses. There is no top pairing defenseman on that team and no depth. As individuals Edmonton has a decent top 9, but there is no balance. Who on that top line is going to play defense (or on any of the top 3 lines for that matter). If edmonton is up by one with 10 minutes to play, I wouldn't want any of those guys on the ice. It's a team built with individuals, sexy names and toe drag specialists, which had been their problem for the last decade.

Lucic is a +69 for the last 3 years. Brouwer who the Flames brought in to settle things down by comparison is a +7 over that same period playing on pretty equivalent teams.

seems that whatever line Lucic is on dominates the other teams line 5 on 5 by a significant amount. Might call that defense....

Their big centre Draistl put up a -2 on an awful team.... compares well with our big centres Monahan -6 and Bennett -11. True they don't have a Backlund.

Pouliot is a big lunch bucket player who plays hard and puts up decent points. a career +38 Frolik the Flames equivalent is a career +16


PS If Hall , a toe dragger of the highest order, is a huge loss then Colbourne (2nd highest scoring winger on the Flames) would be a have to be rated as a significant loss to the Flames.

Replacing Hall and Yak and Schultz with Lucic and Maroon and Larsson is a drastic change in style and attitude.

Larsson is a big guy that dishes out hits at a higher rate as Engelland except plays 22 minutes/game Kinda figure that he might be out the last 10 minutes of the oiler being up by a goal.

[devo22]

yeah, let's judge players by +/- because, why not? What the hell could go wrong?

Claude Giroux was -8 last year. Brent Burns was -5. Erik Karlsson was -2. Roman Josi was -3. Wayne Simmonds was -7. Meanwhile Alex Petrovic was +17 last year. JT Brown was +16. Jakub Kindl and Nikulaj Kulemin were +13. Such a useful stat.

Oh and btw, Lucic played the majority of the year with Toffoli, Kopitar and Carter. Those were +35, +34 and +18 themselves respectively, so it certainly doesn't mean that Lucic himself was that outstanding. All of those had great +/- numbers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Lucic is a +69 for the last 3 years. Brouwer who the Flames brought in to settle things down by comparison is a +7 over that same period playing on pretty equivalent teams.

seems that whatever line Lucic is on dominates the other teams line 5 on 5 by a significant amount. Might call that defense....

Their big centre Draistl put up a -2 on an awful team.... compares well with our big centres Monahan -6 and Bennett -11. True they don't have a Backlund.

Pouliot is a big lunch bucket player who plays hard and puts up decent points. a career +38 Frolik the Flames equivalent is a career +16


PS If Hall , a toe dragger of the highest order, is a huge loss than Colbourne would be a have to be rated as a significant loss to the Flames.

Replacing Hall and Yak with Lucic and Maroon is a drastic change in style and attitude.

+/- is a bad stat, because you can throw it out there as proof of nothing unless you look at who the player rides herd with.

Pouliot is big, when he wants to play he's lunch bucket, but when he doesn't which is more often of not, he's invisible, lazy and takes brutal penalties. Yeah, I can safely say that I would take Frolik over him 9 times out of 10.

Two years in a row, Draisaitl has vanished. In his first year he was awful. Last year he had a huge start, and then completely gave up in the second half and was completely invisible. Right now I take Monahan over him and I would certainly take Bennett over him because of just the personal preference of work ethic and having more dimensions.

I like Lucic, I think he'll be ok for the Oilers for the first half of the season, and then fade, I also think by the last year of the contract this will be a massive mistake signing. Right now for the differences in offense, I would rather have Brouwers deal then Lucic's deal thanks

[MrMastodonFarm]

Benoit Pouliot is a lunch bucket player, known for his hard work? That's a first.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by devo22

yeah, let's judge players by +/- because, why not? What the hell could go wrong?

Claude Giroux was -8 last year. Brent Burns was -5. Erik Karlsson was -2. Roman Josi was -3. Wayne Simmonds was -7. Meanwhile Alex Petrovic was +17 last year. JT Brown was +16. Jakub Kindl and Nikulaj Kulemin were +13. Such a useful stat.

Oh and btw, Lucic played the majority of the year with Toffoli, Kopitar and Carter. Those were +35, +34 and +18 themselves respectively, so it certainly doesn't mean that Lucic himself was that outstanding. All of those had great +/- numbers.

Not to mention that the two previous years Lucic was playing with Bergeron and Marchand: Two of the most impressive +/- players over that time. He's always had the benefit of having good line mates.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Benoit Pouliot is a lunch bucket player, known for his hard work? That's a first.

3 more years at 4 million. Yikes.