The NHL trade deadline is just four days away, and a lot of teams are searching for blue-line help. Two of them are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings, who, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, have interest in Calgary Flames defenseman Kris Russell.
“Calgary’s got some obvious ones, and it sounds like there’s a lot of interest in Kris Russell if he isn’t signed (including Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Los Angeles, as he’s got some connections to the Sutters),” Friedman wrote in his weekly 30 Thoughts column.
Russell is a minutes-eater. He’s averaging 22:52 of ice time per game, but he’s not playing against opposing teams’ top lines, and his lackluster 43.62 Corsi For percentage illustrates how disastrous he’s been in regards to puck possession.
Russell’s HERO chart also shows he’s best suited in a third-pairing role. That’s not the type of player general managers should give up quality assets to acquire. However, we just saw San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson trade two second-round draft picks for a similarly bad D-man in Roman Polak, so you never know.
The Penguins need help on the blue line a little more than the Kings do. Let’s face it: There’s no Drew Doughty-type of player on Pittsburgh’s back end. Young defensemen Derrick Pouliot and Brian Dumoulin have improved this season, but outside of Kris Letang, there’s not much playoff experience among the defensive corps.
Pittsburgh has been playing much better since New Year’s Day, thanks to Sidney Crosby’s scoring resurgence, but its lack of quality assets might result in GM Jim Rutherford keeping his roster intact and hoping elite center Evgeni Malkin’s return from injury is enough.
“I’m not worried about that,” Crosby said when asked about trade deadline upgrades. “I think as players we’ve got to go out there and play. We’ve shown some really good things here, especially the last couple of months, so whatever happens we’ve got to find a way to continue to get better and play our best when it means the most.”
Thumbnail photo via Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA TODAY Sports Images
