After their loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Blues announced that they had swapped defensemen with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nikita Nikitin, who hasn’t played in several games with the abundance of d-men the Blues have was sent to the Blue Jackets in exchange of Kris Russell.
Nikitin has appeared in 48 NHL games, all for the Blues and should be an everyday starter in Columbus, something he didn’t the chance to do here. Nikitin is an offense minded dman and showed some flashes of solid play here but not enough to make this a real upsetting move. During his time here, Nik only posted a 1-8-9 scoring line and was a minus 4, neither of which are to appealing to me.
Russell comes in an offensive defenseman too. All of his NHL action, 288 games, have all been with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Even though he has been with Columbus his whole career, Russell has managed to put up some pretty good offensive numbers in the last 3 seasons, scoring over 20 points in each.
The questions that I can pull out of this are: 1. How much of this trade was Ken Hitchcock’s doing? Is it just coincidence that we made a trade with Columbus after we make a coaching change and go to a guy that has been with this organization for a few years? I think this has to be a move that Hitch pushed for in a d-man that apparently he liked enough to lobby him for a trade.
The other question I have is where does this put Russell when Kent Huskins comes back? Is Russell going to start getting the press box treatment as Nikitin has been getting the last few games? Even with Huskins still injured the Blues have an extra defensemen in Ian Cole. Cole could be sent back down to the Peoria Rivermen, who do play tomorrow which I think could factor into the decision. In all honesty, even though Cole has played 2 pretty solid games since his call up, I think I would rather have the more experience Kris Russell in that 6th defensive slot at least until Kent Huskins comes back and then we would have to re-evaluate the situation again.
For now we should get to see what Russell is made of for a few games before Huskins becomes available. Until we get to see him in action I’ll go ahead and call this an even trade but I think the Blues could potentially end up with the better deal here. Only time will tell.
What are your thoughts on the trade? Who sits as the 7th d-man once Huskins is healthy. Comment below or send an email to
Kris Russell was a hero here in Medicine Hat with the Tigers. He was an absolute treat to watch each and every game and I can only hope that with a new (and better) team he will reach his true potential. Good luck Kris!!