After scoring the game-winner for the wrong team Thursday night, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Kris Russell has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Russell spun and fired a shot into his own goal late in the third period versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, throwing away the chance at a crucial two points for his team, and giving way to some relentless mocking online.
But the Oilers are putting the miscue behind them, and head coach Todd McLellan came to defense of his oft-criticized defenseman on Saturday.
"Kris Russell is a character individual and that's why our team cares so much about him. Whoever's criticizing this individual probably has never played a competitive sport in their life and if they have and they've been perfect and that event never occurred to them, then they should be in the hall of fame somewhere. Mistakes happen. There was no intent for him to shoot it in our net. That's the one video clip we don't even review. What are we going to look at? But what he means to our team ... and I know all the analytic nerds out there find ways to run him into the ground but he means a lot to our team. Every single one of those players, regardless of the goal the other night he put into his own net will tell you that any day in any place. I'm pretty sure a lot of guys in that locker room down the hallway would tell you the same thing. So analytics that, if you want."
Russell's analytics, though, are quite bad. This season, his Corsi For percentage relative to his teammates is -5.7. That said, the 30-year-old has 11 points in 26 contests to go with 67 blocked shots, which is why the Oilers see him as valuable.
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.