Kris Russell

The Medicine Hat Tigers selected Russell with their eighth round selection, 138th overall at the 2002 Western Hockey League (WHL) Bantam Draft.[4] He played four seasons with the Tigers and the first time he played Ryan, who was a member of the Kootenay Ice, in a game, the brothers fought each other. Kris described the event as "fun" while noting that neither was trying to hurt their brother.[5] He was a member of league championship teams in his first season, 2003–04, and his last, 2006–07.[1] Russell was highly decorated in his junior career. He was named to a WHL All-Star Team three times and was twice named recipient of the Brad Hornung Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player.[6] He twice led the league in goal scoring and won the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as top defenceman in both 2005–06 and 2006–07. In his final WHL season, Russell was also named the winner of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL's most outstanding player and was named the Canadian Hockey League's Defenceman of the Year.[1]

Internationally, Russell twice represented Canada as a member of the national junior team. He first played at the 2006 World Junior Championship where he recorded one goal and three assists for the gold medal-winning Canadians.[7] Returning for the 2007 tournament, Russell tied Jonathan Toews for the team lead with four goals as Canada again won the gold medal.[8]

Russell as a member of the Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets selected Russell with their third round pick, 67th overall, at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.[1] Shorter and lighter than his peers throughout minor hockey, he was often told he was too small to play in the NHL. Listed at five feet, ten inches tall, Russell defied expectations and earned a spot with the Blue Jackets in his first professional season, 2007–08.[9] He made his NHL debut and scored his first point with an assist in a 4–0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on October 5, 2007.[1][10] Russell's first two NHL goals came on January 22, 2008, against goaltender Mike Smith, and was named the first star in a 4–2 win over the Dallas Stars.[11] He added eight assists to finish with 10 points in 67 games for Columbus.[12]

Russell spent the majority of the 2008–09 season with the Blue Jackets but also played 14 games with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.[6] He had 21 points in 66 games with Columbus and added a goal and an assist in his first four NHL playoff games.[12] He led Blue Jackets' defencemen with seven goals in 2009–10 and set a career high with 23 points in 73 games in 2010–11.[1] He was briefly a teammate of his brother as the Blue Jackets acquired Ryan prior to the 2011–12 season.[13] However, Kris Russel only played 12 games for Columbus that season, as he was sent to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Nikita Nikitin in a November 11, 2011, trade.[6] The deal reunited Russell with Ken Hitchcock, who had previously coached him in Columbus before becoming the head coach of the Blues.[14]

In 55 games combined between Columbus and St. Louis, Russell scored 12 points and he made his second Stanley Cup playoff appearance by playing nine post-season games with St. Louis.[12] When the 2012–13 NHL season was delayed by a labour dispute, he signed with TPS in the Finnish SM-liiga. He suffered a slight tear to his Medial collateral ligament early in the season and missed some time before rejoining TPS.[15] He recorded 14 points in 15 games before returning to St. Louis when the NHL season finally began.[1] With the Blues, Russell recorded seven points in 33 games but dropped down the Blues' depth chart and did not appear in any 2013 playoff games for the team.[12]

A restricted free agent following the season, Blues management expressed doubt he would be one of the club's top seven defencemen. He was placed on waivers and went unclaimed.[16] The Calgary Flames acquired Russell on July 5, 2013, in exchange for a fifth round selection at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.[17]

Russell was leaned on heavily in his first year in Calgary, emerging as a top-four defensively-oriented defenseman. Paired most frequently with Dennis Wideman, the two formed the Flames' second pairing for the majority of the season. Russell set new career-highs in assists and points in 2013–14, tallying 22 and 29 in those respective categories. He also finished second on the team in blocked shots with 201, only behind Chris Butler (211).

As the Flames improved significantly in 2014–15, so did Russell. Once again, he posted new career-highs in assists and points, with 30 and 34, respectively, and he also led the NHL in blocked shots with 283. This mark currently sits as the NHL record for most shots blocked by a single player in a season. With star and captain Mark Giordano injured late in the season as the Flames pushed towards a playoff spot, Russell emerged as a temporary top-pairing defenseman in lieu, forming a dangerous shutdown tandem with Wideman once again. This continued into the 2015 playoffs, as Russell proved to be a clutch force throughout the Flames' six-game victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. One notable moment came in Game 1 of the series, which the Flames had trailed until just past the mid-way mark of the third period; first, David Jones scored to tie the game, and then Russell fired a wrist shot from the point which beat Canucks goaltender Eddie Läck to put the Flames up by one goal with under 30 seconds remaining. Russell finished the post-season with seven points, third on the Flames.

The Flames regressed in 2015–16, as did Russell. His assist and point totals dramatically sank to just 11 and 15, as the Flames dropped in the standings and missed the 2016 playoffs. With this fate becoming evident, Flames general manager Brad Treliving sought to sell some of his assets at the trade deadline. With his contract expiring at the end of the year, Russell was traded to the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, prospect Brett Pollock and a conditional second-round pick (ultimately used to select Dillon Dubé).[18]

In Dallas, Russell was relied on to play top-pairing minutes, but the team fizzled out in the second round to the St. Louis Blues. Russell was held goalless throughout the playoffs, and he was not re-signed by the Stars in the off-season.

On October 7, 2016, with the Edmonton Oilers having cleared cap space in the trade of Nail Yakupov, Russell belatedly signed as a free agent to a one-year, $3.1 million contract for the 2016–17 season.[19] Used in a very defensively-minded role, Russell enjoyed limited offensive success but slotted in as the team's de facto fourth defenseman alongside fellow veteran Andrej Sekera. Much like the Flames in 2015, the Oilers made the playoffs in 2016–17 season for the first time in years, but lost in the second round to the Anaheim Ducks, and for the second year in a row, Russell was held goalless in the playoffs.

Encouraged by his play, the Oilers announced on June 23, 2017, they had re-signed Russell to a four-year contract worth $4 million per season.[20]