Canadiens Should Avoid Signing Kris Russell

The Canadiens have been very active since the draft but one name they should avoid is Kris Russell.

NHL free agency has officially hit a lull despite being open just 4 days. That’s generally what happens when teams sign 129 players for a record $616.2 million dollars on day 1. Even the Canadiens got in on the action by signing Alexander Radulov.

As things currently stand, Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens are likely done with free agency. That’s a fairly safe assumption as the remaining options are made up of AHL veterans, some over the hill NHL veterans and some buy low candidates.

One name that has flown under the radar for much of the past 4 days is shot-blocking specialist Kris Russell. Russell is a 29 year old defender with nearly 600 NHL games under his belt. He’s been linked to several teams, including the Montreal Canadiens.

In his first 6 seasons, Russell was floundering as a bottom pair defenceman who had failed to reach the heights he had in the WHL. It was after a trade to the Calgary Flames that things began turning around for Russell.

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Once in Calgary, Russell turned himself into a top 4 defender and even saw time on the Flames top pairings. The main reason for his transformation is the fact Russell became the NHL’s most elite shot blocker. Over the past 3 seasons, he has led the NHL with 694 blocked shots. Dan Girardi is in 2nd during that time with 553 blocked shots.

Despite his ability to block an insane amount of shots, Kris Russell really doesn’t offer much else. He has little offensive value and due to his below average size(5-10, 170), he is easily knocked off the puck in his own end. To makes matters worse, Russell has consistently been a bad possession player. In fact, Russell has posted a negative Corsi Relative for the past 5 seasons.

According to Puckalytics, the best advanced stats site that I’ve ever seen, Russell actually drags down the possession numbers of his linemates. In fact, over the past 3 seasons, players who have played with Russell actually see a 2.1% to 7.6% increase in possession numbers when away from Russell. The only exception was Dennis Wideman, who was equally bad with or without Russell.

It has been speculated that if the Canadiens were to bring Russell in, it was allow them to move Alexei Emelin out, possibly in a deal for a top 6 forward. I do not see the value in making such moves. I’ve been fairly critical of Emelin in the past but he is a much better player than Russell.

Russell beats him in blocked shots but Emelin is a better possession player, far more physical and much bigger. Both players are below average offensive contributors but Emelin does far more than Russell.

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On top of that, Emelin has just 1 year left on his current contract, which pays him $4.1 million. Rumors have suggested that Russell could be seeking anywhere from $4.5 to $6 million per season for 4-6 years. Again, it just doesn’t make sense to not only downgrade the defensive unit but to also pay the downgrade even more money makes even less sense.

It has been a few days since Russell was linked to the Canadiens. Hopefully Bergevin and his management team have cooled on their possible pursuit of Russell as signing him could prove to be one of the worst moves of this off-season.