Oilers, blueliner come to terms
EDMONTON, Alta. — Kris Russell wears orange and blue but his body of work is black and blue.
The 170-pound Edmonton Oilers defenceman, who never met a piece of vulcanized rubber he wouldn’t dive in front of, agreed to a one-year extension Wednesday for $1.25 million. The 33-year-old still has this NHL season, whenever it starts, with a $2.5-million salary but a $4 million cap hit and might have newcomer Tyson Barrie as his blue line partner.
By signing the extension, Russell will also fulfill a requirement for Seattle in the 2021 expansion draft. At least one defenceman unprotected per NHL team must be under contract for the 2021-22 season and has to have played in at least 40 NHL games in 2020-21, although that number could change if there is only a 48-game season because of COVID, or at least 70 in the prior two seasons. He played 55 of the Oilers 71 games in 2019-20, and currently is at 846 in his NHL career — not bad for a fourthround draft pick.
Signing Russell to the extension makes much more sense than signing an unrestricted free-agent for this year and next. Russell buys time for left-shots Philip Broberg and Dmitry Samorukov.
“We had to have a defenceman who meets the criteria for expansion and I had that conversation with Kris’s agent Allain Roy last weekend. And as I look at 2021-22, there’s also a possibility of having a lot of young defenceman on the team and with that youth I wanted some vets,” said Oilers general manager Ken Holland. “He plays hard, practises hard, he respects the game, blocks all those shots at the bottom end of the roster he could play with one of those young defencemen and he gives us depth.”
And going with what you know is better than going after a UFA.
“The price ($1.25 million) was a workable number,” said Holland. “I thought Kris played really well in the Chicago (qualifying round) series and if you watch the playoffs, he plays playoff hockey. He blocks shots, he goes to the dirty areas, plays hurt. Plus, he can play left or right side, so he’s versatile. If there was no expansion, maybe I wait (on an extension) but one of the things I did in Detroit was I kept a lot of players into their mid 30s and they had a real positive impact.
“That’s Kris Russell. He knows how to survive and he’s a good role model. If he’s a healthy scratch some nights, he’ll support his teammates. The way good pros respect the game, it rubs off on people.”