Getting rid of Russell solves all problems

Montreal would take Russel at that price for sure...

Whether you like Russel or not his still worth something. you won't need to give up a second round pick to trade him

I agree. He's a good player and worth his contract. The issue I have with his contract is that the term interferes with the Oilers ability to sign young RFA's for the coming four years. I wouldn't even mind the term of the contract (because he's a tradable player, not a cap dump) - it's the iron-clad NMC that bothers me. I can understand why Russell would want that included, but he should have had to give up something in term or AAV in return in order to get that NMC. A great NMC is something that you give out to your best and brightest, not to depth D. Chiarelli obviously doesn't have great negotiation skills.

Once upon a time Russell was a decent Dman, but he's been getting worse every year for half a decade now. He's definitely not worth his contract and Edmonton would be smart to dump him to a team that still thinks he is.

He's been playing out of his natural position, so of course his boxcars suffer. There's more to defending than boxcars though - something that smarter hockey minds than ours (Chairelli, McLellan) understand.