Gunnar VanDamme and Trevor Russell Commit to RPI
Two defensemen out of the portal set to bring experience to a young RPI blueline
The season is right around the corner, but there were a couple of defensemen Lang picked up out of the portal earlier this summer who we hadn’t touched on yet here. Both have played a good chunk of games at the college level, and they’ll bring two different skillsets to the team. Let’s get into them:
Gunnar VanDamme
It’s a bit of a homecoming for Gunnar VanDamme, who is returning to play in his home state after spending two seasons across the country at University of Alaska Anchorage. There, VanDamme was an important piece for the Seawolves, consistently getting top four minutes over the course of 68 games.
In terms of how he is as a player, VanDamme clearly has great skating ability and uses it well in transition. He loves to get in on the rush and be aggressive after opposition turnovers. While watching his shifts, I clocked multiple times where he ended up being the furthest forward player during a rush sequence.
On the other side of the puck, VanDamme isn’t necessarily a shutdown force, but he can handle his own in the defensive zone. He uses his stick well and after recovering the puck, does well to generate breakouts. He draws penalties at a high rate and doesn’t take many himself.
VanDamme is at his best when he is moving with the puck, but once play is settled in the offensive/defensive zone, he becomes a little less effective. Until he can improve there, he’ll likely be just below the likes of Lemieux, Klassek, (and maybe Jovanovic) on that left-defense depth chart.
Trevor Russell
Trevor Russell missed his senior season at Michigan Tech due to injury and transferred to RPI for his final season of eligibility. He’s a right-handed defenseman who had played 72 college games up to that point including several in regional rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Obviously, there are some questions around how long it will take him to get back into form given that his last competitive college hockey game was in March of last year. But he’s got some real good upside, especially for a team with such a young blueline. Russell brings a steady presence when he is on the ice – just an all-around solid defensive defenseman.
He strikes me as the type of defenseman who you don’t notice as much because he has positioned himself well or subtly cut off a passing lane with a stick so that he doesn’t need to make that flashy, last-ditch dive to block a shot.
Russell likely won’t be a offensive powerhouse, but he’ll be a go to shutdown guy for Lang, and hopefully help cover for the newer defensemen when they make the inevitable rookie mistakes. Excited to see him get into action in just a couple weeks now.