D Robbie Russo (2011, 95th, NYI; signed by DET)

[Reddwit]

Name: Robbie Russo
Position: D
Shoots: R
Height: 6-0
Weight: 195
Birthdate: 1993-02-15
Birthplace: Westmont, IL

Didn't see a thread for the kid yet. Not sure why. I'm wondering what his shortcomings are. There must be plenty, given the lack of fanfare.

He put up 41pts in 40 games with Notre Dame as a senior last year.

This year he leads the AHL with a +38. For reference, the next best teammate in +/- is +14 (Xavier Ouellet). He leads a deep Griffins defense with 27 points in 51 games.

Curious as to why Mike Reilly was given all the hype in the world but no one seemed to care what happened to Russo. Obviously, there must be things about Russo that make his game less dynamic, but the gap can't be so big that Reilly is considered a future franchise D and Russo is essentially waiver fodder, can it?

Enlighten me.

Click to read more...

 

[Dabest]

who considers Reilly a future franchise d?

 

[AmericanDream]

there is a thread on Russo, just need to search farther back for it..

different situations between Reilly and Russo. Islanders didn't sign him whereas Reilly wasn't going to sign with Columbus.

why the Isles didn't sign Russo is beyond me, almost idiotic.

one of my favs, he is a local boy who plays the game with poise and a calm out there. excelled at he USNDP and didn't slow down at Notre Dame. May never be a top pairing guy, but clearly has the tools to be a serviceable dman at the next level which he is showcasing now.

no hype really which as you state is weird, but not a flashy kid, American boy and a 4th rounder so hype is limited.

Red Wings have a chance at really snagging a solid one here and the way they develop youngsters excited for his future.

 

[Islesfan22]

there is a thread on Russo, just need to search farther back for it..

different situations between Reilly and Russo. Islanders didn't sign him whereas Reilly wasn't going to sign with Columbus.

why the Isles didn't sign Russo is beyond me, almost idiotic.

one of my favs, he is a local boy who plays the game with poise and a calm out there. excelled at he USNDP and didn't slow down at Notre Dame. May never be a top pairing guy, but clearly has the tools to be a serviceable dman at the next level which he is showcasing now.

no hype really which as you state is weird, but not a flashy kid, American boy and a 4th rounder so hype is limited.

Red Wings have a chance at really snagging a solid one here and the way they develop youngsters excited for his future.

I was surprised that the Islanders did not sign him as well. Most of us expected him to sign. It would not be the first time they made a mistake as they didn't sign Jared Spurgeon who is a pretty good defenseman for the Wild.

 

[Tatar Shots]

there is a thread on Russo, just need to search farther back for it..

different situations between Reilly and Russo. Islanders didn't sign him whereas Reilly wasn't going to sign with Columbus.

why the Isles didn't sign Russo is beyond me, almost idiotic.

one of my favs, he is a local boy who plays the game with poise and a calm out there. excelled at he USNDP and didn't slow down at Notre Dame. May never be a top pairing guy, but clearly has the tools to be a serviceable dman at the next level which he is showcasing now.

no hype really which as you state is weird, but not a flashy kid, American boy and a 4th rounder so hype is limited.

Red Wings have a chance at really snagging a solid one here and the way they develop youngsters excited for his future.

I was surprised that the Islanders did not sign him as well. Most of us expected him to sign. It would not be the first time they made a mistake as they didn't sign Jared Spurgeon who is a pretty good defenseman for the Wild.

Russo could have also informed the Islanders that he was not going to sign with them. All I ever heard was Staple stating that the Islanders were not signing Russo to a contract. Doesn't mean that they did not want to.

 

[luki here]

there is a thread on Russo, just need to search farther back for it..

different situations between Reilly and Russo. Islanders didn't sign him whereas Reilly wasn't going to sign with Columbus.

why the Isles didn't sign Russo is beyond me, almost idiotic.

one of my favs, he is a local boy who plays the game with poise and a calm out there. excelled at he USNDP and didn't slow down at Notre Dame. May never be a top pairing guy, but clearly has the tools to be a serviceable dman at the next level which he is showcasing now.

no hype really which as you state is weird, but not a flashy kid, American boy and a 4th rounder so hype is limited.

Red Wings have a chance at really snagging a solid one here and the way they develop youngsters excited for his future.

Isles usually go and draft a couple of slight puck moving d in the middle/late rounds, then proceed to watch them put up good production only to not sign them. Bit them in the arse with Spurgeon, while others (e.g. Kichton) don't seem destined to make the nhl.

Why they continue to prolong the cycle is beyond me. Even more surprising was that Burroughs was signed, while Russo was not.

To be fair to Garth Snow, the isles defense is kind of set for the next years. Boychuk and Leddy are signed till 2022, Hamonic till 2020, Calvin DeHaan is set to become an RFA in 2017 and Hickey is signed till 2018. Considering even after trading away Pokka (Leddy deal) and Reinhart (Barzal+Beauvillier) we are still left with Mayfield, Pulock and Pelech prospect-wise- we really didn't need anymore d prospects. We couldn't even accomodate the ones we had (e.g. Pedan) with icetime in the ahl, so bringing more to bridgeport would have been counter-productive.

Just to think that last year we were getting ready to roll with an ahl defense of:

Reinhart-Pulock
Pokka-Mayfield
Pelech-Pedan

is insane!

The consequences of the all d draft 2014.

 

[Reddwit]

Just had a 3 point night, now up to 30 points and +41 on the season.

 

[Jester9881]

Russo is a great prospect.... likely didn't get much fanfare because he was buried under a ton of Islanders D prospects at the time. I guess that's the cost of stockpiling draft picks and prospects, you amass a strong group of youth but end up losing strong prospects due to lack of spots.

At the time, I believe he was our 5th or 6th best D prospect.... not counting the young defensemen we already had in the NHL like Hickey, de Haan and Hamonic.

I know I'm in the minority among Islander fans, but I fear we're going to end up losing/trading another really good young defenseman in Scott Mayfield. He's out of options starting next year.

 

[WesNichols14]

He's making his case for a call up right now if Smith/Marchy dont really improve.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

He's making his case for a call up right now if Smith/Marchy dont really improve.

No, not really.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Don't look now, but this guy is tearing it up. 14 points in his last 8 games, I believe.

 

[NHL RankKing]

Don't look now, but this guy is tearing it up. 14 points in his last 8 games, I believe.

He had a goal and three assists in last night's game

 

[Dotter]

It feels like this kid just came out of nowhere. Very exciting!

 

[newfy]

I cant believe the Islanders didnt lock him up. Hes a very slick puck mover. One less point in the NCAA last year than the highly coveted Mike Reilly and producing at a better clip in the AHL as well.

 

[Strickland]

I cant believe the Islanders didnt lock him up. Hes a very slick puck mover. One less point in the NCAA last year than the highly coveted Mike Reilly and producing at a better clip in the AHL as well.

He went UFA. He didn't wanna sign. At the time the Isles had a bunch of defensive prospects in front of him (Reinhart, Pulock, Pelech, etc.) and had he signed with the Isles he might have had to spend time in the ECHL.

I'm glad to see he's doing well.

 

[McDNicks17]

Just noticed he's +45 down there right now.

I know +/- isn't the best stat, but that's pretty crazy.

 

[newfy]

He went UFA. He didn't wanna sign. At the time the Isles had a bunch of defensive prospects in front of him (Reinhart, Pulock, Pelech, etc.) and had he signed with the Isles he might have had to spend time in the ECHL.

I'm glad to see he's doing well.

Oh alright. I was under the impression the Isles didnt want to sign him because they thought all the other prospects were clearly better.

I guess he maybe saw the writing on the wall and the tough competition to make the big club in the future and chose to go UFA. There wasnt a lot of talk about how that went down when he signed with Detroit

 

[CREW99AW]

He went UFA. He didn't wanna sign. At the time the Isles had a bunch of defensive prospects in front of him (Reinhart, Pulock, Pelech, etc.) and had he signed with the Isles he might have had to spend time in the ECHL.

I'm glad to see he's doing well.

That sucks for the nyi, but I can see Russo's point.

 

[seafoam]

Russo would only have been behind Hamonic/Boychuk/Pulock/Mayfield on NYI's depth chart for RHD (well Zidlicky too, but he's not going to be here past this year). He's way ahead of Graham and Burroughs (he is also older), but in my opinion was always a better NHL prospect than both of them regardless.

With Hamonic's trade request and Mayfield becoming exposed to waivers next year, Russo could have shot up NYI's depth chart. With that said, Detroit can use a some talented RHD as well so it looks like it's worked out well for Russo.

 

[newfy]

Russo would only have been behind Hamonic/Boychuk/Pulock/Mayfield on NYI's depth chart for RHD (well Zidlicky too, but he's not going to be here past this year). He's way ahead of Graham and Burroughs (he is also older), but in my opinion was always a better NHL prospect than both of them regardless.

With Hamonic's trade request and Mayfield becoming exposed to waivers next year, Russo could have shot up NYI's depth chart. With that said, Detroit can use a some talented RHD as well so it looks like it's worked out well for Russo.

I know theyre definitely different players and with Hamonic requesting a trade so losing some of his grit on the back end Mayfield will fill some of that role, but with the season Russo is having he could have easily passed Mayfield as well.

I'm definitely not complaining that he signed with Detroit instead but it just seems odd that the Isles didnt do more to try to lock him up

 

[seafoam]

I know theyre definitely different players and with Hamonic requesting a trade so losing some of his grit on the back end Mayfield will fill some of that role, but with the season Russo is having he could have easily passed Mayfield as well.

I'm definitely not complaining that he signed with Detroit instead but it just seems odd that the Isles didnt do more to try to lock him up

I haven't seen Russo or nearly any Mayfield either, but you're not wrong in saying that he could be ahead of Mayfield as well. I generally try to be conservative in my analysis' so I picked the guy with more pro experience under his belt, but Mayfield's biggest knock has always been his puck skills, which is something Russo's never had a problem with.