Sekera pretty much played his full first season on the right side.... and was significantly better on his left moving forward.
Russell, despite his flaws is significantly better on his natural side.
I probably should not have even bothered to reply.
You don't take talent over handedness unless it's a big difference. Especially in today's NHL. The margin for error is so much smaller in today's parity.
All puck moving offensive defenseman is also a terrible idea. Two way is inherently better... simplify/exaggerate... twice as good.
Sekera being the perfect example.
Who is a better defenseman. Sekera or Tom Gilbert, Nikita, Schultz, even Petry struggled in comparison to Sekera to be as effective. All talented puck movers but I wouldn't throw them together.
Sekera was great in both of his first two seasons here, so to make any real distinction between him on the left or right side is pretty tough, especially with recall bias this far into the future. I'm also almost positive that Russell played the right side his first season in Edmonton (2016-17) and that was by far his best season as an Oiler.
Where did I choose all puck-moving offensive D? My list was Nurse, Bouchard, Klefbom, Broberg, Samorukov, and Jones. Of those 6 the only real true offensive puck moving D is Bouchard. The rest are generally 2-way type D, who can add some offence while playing average to above average defence. If all of your Dmen being capable puck movers is a bad thing then I'm sure you prefer having a Kris Russell on your blue line.
I don't see the parallels in your Gilbert, Nikitin, Schultz, Petry analogy. Those are 3 guys who struggled at defending or in Nikitin's case couldn't skate, and Petry is easily every bit as good as Sekera as a two-way D. I'm still confused at what point you're trying to get across here. Is it that having a big mobile D who is mostly made of 2-way D is bad because they are almost all good to great puck movers? Is it that 5 of them are lefties? Is size and mobility a bad thing because only 2 or 3 of them play a heavy physical game? Would you prefer 1 or 2 "defensive D" who can only chip the puck off the glass and out? You're going to have to point out for me who besides from Bouchard on my list is a pure offensive D, and give me reasons why the other 5 shouldn't be considered as 2-way D.