Scouting report: Kris Russell

7 years ago

My Scouting Report series continues today, and once again we are focusing on the blue line.

You can read the Jason Demers report here.
Justin Faulk
Tyson Barrie

Today we look at the 67th pick from the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Kris Russell. Russell was an undersized offensive D-man coming out of junior, but he’s worked on his defensive game in the NHL and become an elite shot blocker. He’s poised to be a UFA on July 1st.

After six seasons with Columbus and St.Louis, Russell moved to Calgary and became a regular top-four defender with the Flames. Outside of his shot-blocking prowess, Russell had two solid seasons of offensive production totaling 11-52-63 in those two years.

He was moved to Dallas this March, and played a lot in the regular season playing 24 minutes a night. Dallas experimented with a few different combos in the playoffs, and Lindy Ruff never looked satisfied with many of his defenders. I expect Russell to test free agency.

The Basics:

Defence

29 years old.

5’10” and 180 pounds.

Shoots left.

UFA this summer.

Current salary: $2.6 million (same cap hit)

CAREER STATS

SEASON	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%
2007-08	CBJ	67	2	8	10	-12	14	1	4	0	0	1	0	90	2.2
2008-09	CBJ	66	2	19	21	-10	28	1	11	0	0	1	0	86	2.3
2009-10	CBJ	70	7	15	22	3	32	0	7	0	0	1	1	108	6.5
2010-11	CBJ	73	5	18	23	-9	37	1	6	0	1	0	0	88	5.7
2011-12	CBJ	12	2	1	3	-1	13	0	1	0	0	0	0	20	10
2011-12	STL	43	4	5	9	13	12	0	0	0	0	1	0	36	11.1
2012-13	STL	33	1	6	7	6	9	1	2	0	0	0	0	41	2.4
2013-14	CGY	68	7	22	29	-11	15	4	12	0	1	1	1	109	6.4
2014-15	CGY	79	4	30	34	18	17	1	14	0	0	0	0	111	3.6
2015-16	CGY	51	4	11	15	-4	8	2	2	0	0	1	1	56	7.1
2015-16	DAL	11	0	4	4	-1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	14	0
Career	–	573	38	139	177	-8	187	11	61	0	2	6	3	759	5

Icetime over his NHL career.

Year
GP
TOI/game
EVTOI/G
SHTOI/G
PPTOI/G

2016
51
22:52
19:43 1:50 1:18

(Calgary)
           11     24:01     19:11        2:18       2:31 (Dallas)
2015   79 23:56
21:12    1:18       2:25

2014
68 23:08
19:17 0:53 2:57

2013 33 16:02 14:52 0:34 0:36

2012   55     16:59
14:51        0:19       1:49
2011   73     17:31      14:24       0:20       2:45
2010   70     18:35      15:39       0:26     2:29
2009   66     16:07      12:45       0:03       3:18
2008   67    14:47      11:29 0:08 3:09

Russell was drafted as an offensive defenceman, and he worked hard to improve his defensive game despite his lack of size. He’s fearless at shot blocking, although some feel he relies on it too much at times.

He is a great example of a player who has evolved his game to find something he excels at to stay in the NHL. Very few players are willing to change from their forte, like being a puck moving offensive defender, and take on a less desirable role, but Russell has successfully done that. The one concern is he relies on it too much and gives up space at the blueline instead of standing up attacking forwards.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

David Johnson (hockeyanalysis on twitter) the man in charge of stats.hockeyanalysis.com took a look at Russell’s stat lines.

When I analyze players I generally like to
look at several seasons and situations and look for trends. I also like to look
at score situations differently as players can play different roles based on
the score. While I look at corsi stats to get a grounding on the player I
generally put more weight on goals data, especially if there are consistent
trends over multiple seasons and score situations. I also look at RelTM (or
straight Rel) stats to factor out QoT.

Here are Kris Russell’s relevant stats over
the last several seasons.

5v5	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	-1.34	7.54	-3.8	0.36	0.06	3.6
2014-15	0.96	4.93	-1.4	0.94	-0.19	11.5
2015-16	-4.78	5.9	-4.7	0.31	0.42	-0.8

5v5 Leading	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	2.47	7.14	-1.2	0.28	-0.16	4.5
2014-15	4.2	3.49	1	0.37	-0.75	12.3
2015-16	-0.02	3.3	-1.3	1.07	-0.59	16.8

5v5 Trailing	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	1.17	5.36	-2.1	0.35	-0.94	14.6
2014-15	-1.83	5	-2.9	0.85	0.35	3.5
2015-16	-8.58	8.45	-7.7	-0.9	1.21	-20.6

5v5 Tied	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	-4.86	8.37	-5.6	0.47	1.01	-3
2014-15	0.08	7.42	-2.8	1.43	-0.01	14.9
2015-16	-5.44	5.68	-4.9	0.85	0.59	2.1

Kris Russell is one of those players who is
not suited for a Corsi evaluation. In nearly every situation he has a negative
impact on his teammates CF%, but in nearly every situation he has a positive
impact on his teammates GF%. He achieves this by fairly consistently being a
positive contributor to offensive production, however his individual offensive
statistics are mediocre among defensemen, so his offensive numbers could be
driven more by the forwards he has played the most with (Gaudreau, Monahan,
Hudler) rather than driving the offense himself.

When he plays a more defensive role such as
when he is defending a lead, he seems to be able to suppress goals against. He
does this not by limiting shots against but suppressing shot quality against,
resulting in higher save percentages for his goalies. This would indicate that
maybe he might be more suited to take on a more defensive role.

Russell hasn’t typically played against the
opponents’ best players (in Calgary that task was assigned to Brodie and
Giordano), but he hasn’t been sheltered either. Overall I’d say he is well suited for
a second pairing: a good all-round guy capable of playing in many situations
and may be suited to taking on a more defensive role. At the right price he
could be a good fit for the Oilers, but with his limited offensive ability that
price would have to be under $5M/year, if not closer to $4M/year.

SCOUTING REPORT

This week’s scouting report on Russell comes from an active NHL
player, two current NHL scouts and Craig Button from TSN.

Here is the player’s assessment of Russell:

Skates
really well, very agile.
Really
good sneaky stick.
Shot-blocking
machine. He will be top-three, if not lead the league, every year in this category. Relies on that too much sometimes though instead of closing the gap.
Doesn’t
play the right side very well if he has to.
He can struggle defending against big strong forwards.
Good team guy.

Scout #1:

I have watched him on on other teams and had
an opinion of him, but watching him closely during the playoffs my opinion
was confirmed. The Canadian media and possibly Brian Burke built this
player up at the trade deadline. Our analytics people were scratching their
heads.

If you are known for shot blocking I’ve always felt there is a
reason you are always shot blocking — because you are always having to defend. He is
a first pass guy, able to get up ice and join the attack. He is under sized and
spent a lot of time defending. Not as good a puck possessor as people probably
thought. Secondary pp guy.

To me the the hype at the deadline did not pan out, but maybe that’s just
me.

He is a serviceable Dman who does not have a
defining quality other than shot blocking.

Scout #2:

He’s a smaller d-man that skates well going back for
pucks or coming up ice with more of an offensive skill set, yet is thought to
be more of a defensive guy because of his shot blocking totals. When given time he
has the ability to wheel and evade pressure bringing the puck up with speed and
finding a first pass, but I wouldn’t call him a great puck mover. Skating is his
best attribute.

Defensively he is lauded as a shot blocker and you have
to commend his willingness to do this, but it’s often because he plays deep
defending the rush. This opens up shooting lanes off entries which he then
tries to use his body to block. With his skating ability I’m not really sure
why he does this.

In the defensive zone he lacks size and strength and has
trouble moving bodies in traffic. Down low he competes for a smaller guy, but
will also sit back and give players too much time just trying to contain and
get in the shooting lane because he lacks the size to pin and shut down a cycle
leading to extended zone time.

Craig Button:

A highly competitive hybrid type who can
contribute offense.

·
Good hands

·
Good passer

·
Can be a secondary guy on the PP

·
Decent shot

Solid sense

·
Reads play well and understands his limitations.

·
He knows he can’t take ice or overpower opponents so he finds
himself being a positional, territorial
type.

Competitior

·
Big time competitor.

· Will
sacrifice himself to block shots and he battles physically although he can’t
overwhelm you with
physical play.

Playing vs. him

·
Defensively he can be over matched vs. size and power.

·
Forcing him to play below the circles in the defensive zone forces
him to battle physically.

Contract

·
This will be a significant factor for the team. ($$’s and term)

·
He could be this off season’s Cody Franson.

·
If you find the right dollars and know that he’s a number 5 and
can slide up if necessary in the short
term, he can be valuable.

WRAP UP

I don’t see Russell as a fit for the Oilers, simply because he plays the left side. The Oilers have Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera, Brandon Davidson, Darnell Nurse and Griffin Reinhart. If Peter Chiarelli traded one or two to bolster his right defence, then maybe the Oilers would look at Russell as a free agent, but I’d be surprised.

I thought Johnson did a great analytical breakdown of Russell, but I disagree with his comment about Russell having limited offence. Over the past three seasons Russell has produced the 56th most points among defenceman. He isn’t among the elite point-producers, but in today’s game if he can score 25 points he’d be top-60 every year.

I wonder if a team asked him to focus more on his natural offensive skills, used him on the second PP and played him against lower quality of competition (QofC) at 5-on-5, if he’d be a more valuable player. I could see him having great value in that role as a “#5 at EV”, but overall his minutes would be among the top four on your team. He is a great skater and I’d encourage him to use his speed more. I still believe he is more of an offensive player, and if a team used him that way and protected his EV matchups he’d be a good addition.

He’s proven he can be versatile and he’s shown a great willingness to alter his game, where people talk more about his shot blocking than shots taken, and that will make him valuable in the eyes of some GMs on July 1st. I see him landing a contract in the range of $3 to $3.5 million/year.

QUICK HITS…

The World Cup of Hockey rosters will be finalized tomorrow. Here is why I think Taylor Hall should be one of the four forwards named. I don’t see much justification to suggest Brad Marchand is a better overall player.
Anton Stralman will try to become the fourth player in NHL history to win eight game 7s tonight when Tampa Bay plays Pittsburgh. He is 7-0 in game 7s. Brad Richards is 8-0, Glenn Anderson (8-4) and Ray Bourque (8-2).

Get your tickets for tomorrow night’s Karoake party/fundraiser. They are only $35, but you receive $45 in GCs from Oodle Noodle and On The Rocks at the door and one beverage ticket. It will
be a great time. Some excellent talent on stage, yours truly excluded, but I will give it a good effort.

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