While his name had already worked its way through the rumour mill over the past few weeks, it appeared as though the Edmonton Oilers decided inking unrestricted free agent defenseman Kris Russell to a deal for the upcoming 2016-17 campaign was a road they did not want to go down. However, with the start of the season just around the corner and the club not satisfied with the current state of their backend, the two sides decided to circle back and take another kick at the proverbial can.
From the moment the Edmonton Oilers decided to use the No. 1 selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft to select Nail Yakupov, there were those who questioned the decision. After adding the quartet of Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins over the previous four drafts, bringing in another forward seemed to be a bit of overkill in the minds of some. With that said, there is no question the vast majority of Oilers Nation wanted the club to use their first round pick on the talented Russian…yours truly included.
