Adam wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 11:49

RDOilerfan wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 11:03 Adam wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 10:51 RDOilerfan wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 10:48 Adam wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 10:45 GabbyDugan wrote on Mon, 03 February 2020 09:06 Kris Russell I hope can recover from his injuries, but he is almost excess baggage on this team. Hey - Jim Matheson tweeted that Russell is very valuable to this team and you wouldn't find any of his teammates who'd say a bad word about him! If Ol' Jim likes him, who are we to say anything different? If he's making 2 mill in and in your 3rd pairing, it's not a big deal to have him on the team. At 4 mill cap hit, he makes too much. Even at $2MM, it's pretty ugly when he's the 7th best defenceman on the roster. The coach has been playing a raw rookie on his off-side because he trusts him more to play the right than Kris Russell...that's damning. Here's praying there's someone who loves shot blocking who'll take him this summer. Are you making your comments on Russell objectively or does your dislike of Russell play a factor? You haven't been a fan of his for a very long time. I am not a Russell lover what so ever. The Oilers for a while lacked NHL dmen, while not ideal, he filled a void. He wasn't amazing but adequate for the most part. Now that the have strengthened their defense and seemingly have more coming, I've been saying it a long time now that they need to get rid of him. But in saying that, I have a hard time believing he'd be a #7 dman on very many teams in this league, he'd be playing. I'm pretty objective - the reasons I don't like Russell aren't personal. He's not a good puck distributor, he struggles to advance the puck and he gives up the blueline too easily. Doesn't really matter if he'd be the 7th best defencemen on other teams. While I think that's likely where he'd slot in with many, that's where we're at here. Bear passed him, Benning passed him and I think Jones is passing him. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Jones scored and has looked better the last couple games - he's finally playing on his correct side, so he's more comfortable. That leaves Russell at #7, with a slim lead on Bouchard and Lagesson. The sooner we can move him the better, because if he's a healthy scratch here, it's going to hurt his already fading marketability, but at the same time you can't ask the coach to slot him in if he's not the best option.

Trust me, I'm objective.

2015/2016 - This Kool-Aid tastes like McDavid flavoured Drain-O.
2016/2017 - This Kool-Aid is starting to taste like juice.
2017/2018 - I'm drinking this Kool-Aid, in hopes that it's Drain-O.
2018/2019 - Another round of Drain-O, good sir!