ON THE HORIZON – Robbie Russo, D, Notre Dame
By Alan Avital
With four of its top six defensemen being 33 years and older, the Islander organization realized that it was imperative to re-stock its system with young and mobile blue-liners. They have selected 12 defensemen over the past four entry drafts, including four this past June in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Robbie Russo was the third defensemen to be taken by the Islanders in June, selected in the fourth round (95th overall). While his selection didn’t receive the same fan-fare as first rounder Ryan Strome, Russo’s hope is that his steady second-half play with the U.S. National Team last spring will translate into a solid collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame and beyond.
“I believe that I am one of those defensemen who plays well with the puck,” said Russo, who helped the U.S. under-18 national team win its third straight championship this past May. “I am calm back there and I play with poise, but I know that if I want to take that next step, I need to physically get stronger.”
Standing 5-feet-11 inches tall and weighing 186 pounds, Russo believes that adding 10 pounds will be greatly beneficial to his overall play. Still, it was his offensive prowess that drew the attention of current Notre Dame head coach and former Islander assistant Jeff Jackson, when recruiting the 18-year old Russo.
“We recruited him because of his offensive potential,” said Jackson, who ironically compares his young defenseman to former Islander standout Kenny Jonsson. “Kenny was a good decision-maker and a good skater, as is Robbie. But Robbie knows that he has to get physically stronger to become a more explosive defenseman.”
Russo’s introduction to the sport of hockey began at the tender age of three, as he went with his parents to a “Free Skate” in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
“My parents could see that I could skate,” said Russo. “So everything escalated from there.”
Russo, who continued to play hockey for the next decade on the pee-wee level throughout the Chicago area, moved on to play high school hockey at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan where collegiate and U.S. national scouts took notice.
“Pioneer High School was a good place to develop. It also got me a lot of exposure,” said Russo.
But it was a sub-par first half for the U.S. National Team that hurt Russo’s draft ranking, allowing the Islanders to sneak up and grab him a few rounds earlier than expected.
“Robbie was hoping to be selected in the first two rounds, but he was just average in the first half last season,” said Jackson. “He really picked up his play in the second half and played real well. You could see the instincts on the blue-line, and he is here (Notre Dame) to gain that defensive intensity.”
Through the early part of his freshman season at Notre Dame, Russo’s off-season hard work has earned the confidence of his sixth-year head coach. Jackson has played his team’s second-youngest player in even strength, penalty kill and power play situations.
“Coach Jackson is big on details, “said Russo, who has assisted on two of Notre Dame’s goals in his first five collegiate games. “He has told me to be myself, and has given me good minutes so far.”
Russo’s teammate and highly-touted Islander prospect Anders Lee also has taken notice.
“Robbie is a great defenseman,” said Lee, who himself leads the country in goal scoring with eight, including notching his second-career hat-trick in Friday night’s 5-2 Notre Dame victory over RPI to open up the brand-new Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend. “He is playing on our power play. It is nice having him shoot the puck.”
Islander fans got a glimpse of Russo this past June when he joined Lee on Long Island for the Blue-White scrimmage.
“It was pretty cool going down to New York and seeing a lot of the guys,” said Russo, who himself eyes current San Jose Shark Dan Boyle and Detroit Red Wing and future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom as guys he has patterned his game after. “There are a lot of good, young defensemen there (on Long Island). The competition is definitely stiff, but I am definitely excited to show the Islanders that one day I could be a difference maker.”
34 Responses to ON THE HORIZON – Robbie Russo, D, Notre Dame
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UIF says:
Nice to see the post-Botta IPB coming through with some prospect stories lately. I wish I could read one about some towering defenseman we have stashed away somewhere that is devastating opposing forwards with thundering checks. That is such a glaring hole for the Isles…no one makes opposing forwards think twice about flying across the blue line at full speed with the puck, and it puts the team on its heels in the defensive zone from the start of every opposing rush.
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Jim Clark says: 5’11″ and 186 lbs? another smurf.
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BanGarth says:
I havent seen an Isle d man throw a check to anyone coming into the offensive zone , sad. We have 40 year soft d men and keep drafting undersized ” puck moving d men”, enough already. Trade for John Scott and lose Gillies from the lineup, easy stuff Garth.
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Steve J says:
Nice article. Garth has done a good job drafting some decent prospects. I think we have quantity over quality though. I believe in this rebuild but it would be nice to start seeing some results now.
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ernie says:
lol wtf?? this guy’s never gonna play in the NHL so what is the point of this?
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Brian G says:
Great Article….but its time to focus on the current team, let’s put a hold on prospects & draft pick talk….please talk possible trades and what this current teams needs to do to play more consistent, switching up lines, coaching…..
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Stevie10703 says:
#6, I think its good that we have someone that is going in depth on our prospects, this way, we know what to expect when they make the jump to the next level. Its nice to hear about them every now and then on off days like this where nothing much is going on.
Talking possible trades is great, but, at the end of the day, all its all speculation and not much more than that.
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Hishutzi Skorz says:
We have enough prospects like Kenny (and Tomas) Jonsson. What we need are a few Dave Langevin and Rich Pilon types!
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Trevor Hollinger says:
good write-up AA. I would only say, the Isles drafting Dman really has nothing to do with current groups age really, but the fact that the team began a rebuild in 2008…restocking the entire system from the farm up. Defenseman like Mottau, Eaton, Staois, they are all clearly stop-gaps in the rebuild. If Juice could stay healthy, he could have been a number 4 D but not happening. He’s lucky to play 40 games a year. Streit is also unlikely to still be around when the core youth in the rebuild hit their prime age of 25…There are only 2 players (excluded DPs contact, and I doubt he’s playing after 35 with his injuries) over 25 who might be around in the future when team is in the top 10…Amac who is mere weeks above age 25, and Neilson, whose 27. As it stands now, Comeau, Neilson, DP and Jeremy Colliton who is now captain of BP are the last players drafted under Milbury. Amac and KO were drafted under Neil Smith…beyond that, everyone else was drafted under Snow.
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50% of NHLers are drafted in top two rounds (top 60)…Pedan, Sundstrom and Russo were all listed by draft guru Bob Mackenzie as “honourable mentions” to go top 60. Isles slightly overdrafted Sundstrom at 50, but not by much if at all. They probably felt he wouldn’t be around @ 64, where the team took Pedan. Many scouts considered Russo a steal in the early 4th round where he slipped too and Isles took him.
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claude says:
Thank you for the article .But what the present? Almost all winning organizations have a chara-prongeresque” type manning the blue. I doubt any eastern conference team would think twice to move the puck along the wall on our corps
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Islanderfan says:
considering that this organization has to rely on the players that we draft to pan out, hopefully he along with many of our prospects make it.
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btw, anyone drive by the coliseum of late. seems like they had another sewage problem with the long white hoses coming out of the building.
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mark p says:
Jeez, I guess its hard to please everyone.
Isles used 2 early picks to draft the big defensemen we have been clamoring for, then saw good value with Russo still being on the board in the 4th round. Many teams employ two smaller defensemen, so drafting one each year is not unreasonable.
Funny Snow passed on signing Spurgeon, yet he saw NHL time in his first year, and started this year with the Wild.
I think AA is adding value back to the site, and making it worthwhile again.
We all can watch the games and see our teams short comings ourselves.
I would like the site continue providing scouting on our future players, finding us a few juicy rumors, and giving us opinions. -
Bob E. says:
nice write-up, I find this stuff more interesteing here and there during season. right now im fixated on isles having good next few games.
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Seabass says:
“the long white hoses coming out of the building”
Those are hoses to the exterior refrigeration units that will be used to augment the ice cooling system until sometime in November.
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gary91922 says:
I’m fine with reading interviews with all our prospects. However….
What seperated CB over all others was his ability to also interject reality into these articles. How about a comment on where he is projected to be by experts? Say what you want but the Isles didn’t steal this kid because he had a bad stretch of games. He slipped because he’s undersized and just not worthy of being drafted higher that the 4th round. For all we know the other scouts laughed because he may have been projected closer to 120 than where he went. The only legit draft picks that fell and we took a fly on were Kabonov and Petrov.
My guess is that Russo will top out at AHL with a few cups of coffee at the NHL level at best. Most likely he will never see an NHL rink unless he buys a ticket.
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corey says: Great read. Im likeing the prospect interviews
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Oh...Marrone says:
Jeez-how many prospects do we have under 6 ft tall…please all these smurfs equals another 10 years of getting pushed around and bullied on the ice..no thanks..next!
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Blizzard says: …yay another prospect we can look forward too!!!! Like Strome, Lee, Dibo, Poulin, etc…which is great. But at this rate JT is gonna retire before we get any talent to support him. Get some players in here that can play for once. I cant believe I am saying this but KO, you can go. Baily you too. Reasner and Pandolfo are our FA signings. Sorry thats not gonna get it done. So sick of this second class citizen crap.
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Nick M says:
Isles better make some moves. Our prospects won’t be making the team anytime soon. And they are going to lose value as time goes on. Garth has to start packaging roster prospects draft picks for real talent in regard to defense
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Jeff from Smithtown says:
I can’t get excited about the Isles prospects. A third of the team is from the junk pile. The Isles have been bad for so long but only have to show I great player JT and a bunch of average at best picks (Bailey Okposo ) I am not sold on Dehaan Niño Strome and Nelson though they haven’t been tested at the NHL level. Without spending to get quality talent this team will be mediocre for a long time to come
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goislesgo105 says:
This team has no luck. If the Devils had not won the lottery, the Isles could of had Adam Larrson. Instead we get 5’10″ Robbie Russo. God it’s hard to be an Isles fan.
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Jon in Chicago says: Prospects are all well and good, but I’d give them up for some legitmate NHL talent, which this current team is still sorely lacking. Funny how Florida reshaped their entire team this offseason and still has a boatload of prospects waiting in the wings.
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NYISLES001 says:
Give me a friggin break, another 5’10″ defenseman. Stop the riduculas crap already.
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How many of you really think Robbie Russo is going to ever see an NHL roster, unless the kid has a major ass growth spurt.
I am sorry to be so mean, but it is the same crap year after year after year.
Being an Islander fan is like that movie with Bill Murray (Ground Hog Day).
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islesrock73 says:
Thanks for the article, but every team in the NHL has “exciting” prospects. I agree with post #9, Hishutzi Skorz . Except we need players like Dave Langevin, Rich Pilon and Gordie Lane now!!
Islanders=Smurfs. Again, can anyone answer my question? What team in the NHL is afraid to play the Islanders? When Martin and Hamonic are off the ice, any team can have a free style, public skate against the Islanders. This past decade, we have had to GM’s that were nasty, hard nose players, yet they are and were intent on putting out undersized and passive teams. Could it be a directive of ownership? It’s lost on me.
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paulunde says:
Alan, thanks for the column. It’s a nice piece and its gratifying to see that this is still the best site to visit for new on the team. Keep up the good work!
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Dean says:
Excellent posts above. Pandolfo, Staios, & Rolston as acquisitions? Florida did it right with Versteeg, Fleischman, & Umberger. We only have 5 legit NHL players on the roster: JT, MM, Streit, Hamonic, Grabner, & some decent goaltending at best. I agree this kid is not going to make it in the NHL at that size. I knew with the horrendous offseason moves, this team was headed for another top 5 pick in 2012. Feel bad for the die hard Isles fans who thought this team was playoff bound.
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Boy. I hope some of you guys are wrong. I am not ready to bail out on the club *this* early! We need a few things to break our way, but our goaltending is improved over last season. Having Mark Streit back in action is huge. Okposo is becoming a bit of a concern, but its still early. Taveras is on his way to stardom. Just some of this has to amount to more wins than last year. I think we’ll be close.
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Tom D in NJ says:
Prospects, prospects and more prospects. Great,but I want to win now!!
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John says:
liked the article. informative. thanks for posting!
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the bomber says:
dont listen to all the complainers. some will never be happy no matter what you do. thanks for the article and the research. i hope to watch a lot of ND games this year…
Great article AA. I agree with you about the Isles needing to get younger at D but they also need to get bigger and more physical. They seem to have quite a few of the puck moving D men in the pipeline but they need guys to develop into stay at home crease clearers. Scotty Mayfield and Andrey Pedan seem to be in that mold so hopefully they have a balance of the big physical D men as well as the puck movers.