Phil Russell: Headliner In The '79 Hawks And Flames Blockbuster

Other than being one of the National Hockey League’s most solid defensemen in the 1970’s, yes, Phil Russell was part of a couple big trades over his career. Russell played in the Stanley Cup finals in his rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks and never got that far in the playoffs again.

Phil surpassed the magical 1,000 NHL regular season game plateau. Another plateau he topped was 2,000 career penalty minutes. Russell still ranks 52nd all-time with 2,038 PIM.

Junior and Minor Pro

NHL Career

Hockey Card Collection

Coaching Career

Rookie Card

Career Stats

Phil Russell – Junior and Minor Pro

Phil Russell played two years of major junior hockey in the WCHL, 1970-71 and 1971-72, with the Edmonton Oil Kings. Over his two seasons with Edmonton, Russell scored 18 goals and assisted on 61 for 79 points in 98 regular season games. A sign of thing to come in his pro career, Phil accumulated 444 penalty minutes.

In his second year, he led the WCHL with 331 PIM. Russell helped the Oil Kings to a President’s Cup championship, beating the Regina Pats in the finals. However, at the Memorial Cup, the team went winless. That year, he was teamed with fellow future NHLers Don Kozak, Darcy Rota, Tom Bladon and Doug Soetaert. Russell was named a First Team All-Star.

Phil jumped right to the National Hockey League for the 1972-73 season and didn’t appear in the minors until 1987-88, after his NHL career had come to an end. He played 27 games that year in the IHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.

Interestingly, that year he played for former Chicago Blackhawks teammate John Marks, head coach with Kalamazoo. In net was a young Jon Casey. The Wings finished last in the East Division and were bounced in the opening round of the Turner Cup playoffs.

Phil Russell – NHL

From 1972-73 to 1986-87 Phil Russell played 1,016 regular season games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres. Chicago selected him 13th overall at the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft.

Phil Russell Collection

Over his career, he scored 99 goals and assisted on 325 for 424 points during the regular season. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Russell added 26 points in 73 games. He topped out with 45 points in 1976-77 with Chicago and had a career high 13 goals in 1982-83 with the Flames.

Early in his career, Phil was often among the penalty minute leaders in the NHL. In 1973-74, he placed sixth with 184 PIM. The following year, he moved up to third with 260 PIM. In 1976-77, he finished fourth with 233 penalty minutes. His 2,038 career PIM ranks him 52nd all-time.

In his rookie season with the Blackhawks, Russell appeared in 16 playoff games as Chicago reached the Stanley Cup finals before bowing out to the Montreal Canadiens. The closest he would come after that was a semi-final loss with Calgary to the Minnesota North Stars.

On March 13, 1979, Chicago traded Russell to the Atlanta Flames, along with Ivan Boldirev and Darcy Rota for Greg Fox, Tom Lysiak, Harold Phillipoff, Pat Ribble and Miles Zaharko. Big names were involved when he was traded away from the Flames to the New Jersey Devils on June 20, 1983. He went to the Devils with Mel Bridgman, in exchange for Joel Quenneville and Steve Tambellini.

On March 11, 1986, he was sent from the Devils to the Buffalo Sabres for a draft pick. His time in Buffalo was limited to just 18 games combined over the 1985-86 and 1986-87 NHL seasons.

Phil competed for Canada on the international stage twice. In both 1977 and 1986, he competed for his country at the IIHF World Championships. In 1986, the team took home the bronze medal.

Phil Russell – Coaching

Right after his playing career ended, Phil Russell jumped behind the bench. From 1988-89 to 1994-95, he took on various roles with the Muskegon / Cleveland Lumberjacks. With the Lumberjacks, Russell spent time as an assistant coach, head coach, assistant general manager and director of pro scouting.

That franchise started back in 1960 as the Muskegon Zephyrs and ended after the 2000-01 season in Cleveland. In Phil’s first year with the team, 1988-89, the Lumberjacks were crowned IHL Turner Cup champions.

From 1993-94 to 1998-99, Russell served as a pro scout with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. He then moved back into coaching roles, serving as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Lumberjacks in 1999-00, assistant with the Frankfurt Lions in Germany’s DEL in 2001-02 and assistant coach with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons in 2004-05 and 2005-06. He last coached in 2007-08 as an assistant with the Pensacola Ice Pilots in the ECHL.

Phil Russell – Rookie Card

The Phil Russell rookie card appears as number 243 in the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee NHL hockey card set. He is shown with the Chicago Blackhawks.

His final card is included in the 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee NHL set as number 142 and he is with the Buffalo Sabres.

Phil Russell Career Stats

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1970-71	Edmonton Oil Kings	WCHL	34	4	16	20	113
1971-72	Edmonton Oil Kings	WCHL	64	14	45	59	331
1972-73	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	76	6	19	25	156
1973-74	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	75	10	25	35	184
1974-75	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	80	5	24	29	260
1975-76	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	74	9	29	38	194
1976-77	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	76	9	36	45	233
1977-78	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	57	6	20	26	139
1978-79	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	66	8	23	31	122
1978-79	Atlanta Flames	NHL	13	1	6	7	28
1979-80	Atlanta Flames	NHL	80	5	31	36	115
1980-81	Calgary Flames	NHL	80	6	23	29	104
1981-82	Calgary Flames	NHL	71	4	25	29	110
1982-83	Calgary Flames	NHL	78	13	18	31	112
1983-84	New Jersey Devils	NHL	76	9	22	31	96
1984-85	New Jersey Devils	NHL	66	4	16	20	110
1985-86	New Jersey Devils	NHL	30	2	3	5	51
1985-86	Buffalo Sabres	NHL	12	2	3	5	12
1986-87	Buffalo Sabres	NHL	6	0	2	2	12
1987-88	Kalamazoo Wings	IHL	27	2	9	11	35
	NHL Totals		1016	99	325	424	2038