Russ Anderson

Russ Anderson
Date of birth	February 12, 1955
place of birth	Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA
size	191 cm
Weight	95 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft	1975 , 2nd lap, 31st position Pittsburgh Penguins
WHA Amateur Draft	1975 , 2nd lap, 22nd position Winnipeg Jets
Career stations
1972-1974	Washburn High School
1974-1976	University of Minnesota
1976-1981	Pittsburgh Penguins
1981-1983	Hartford Whalers
1983-1985	Los Angeles Kings

Russell Vincent "Russ" Anderson (born February 12, 1955 in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) is a former American ice hockey player who played 529 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins , Hartford Whalers and Los Angeles Kings in the course of his active career between 1974 and 1985 has played in the National Hockey League on the position of defender .

Career

Anderson spent his junior years between 1972 and 1974 at Washburn High School in his native Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota . Between 1974 and 1976, the defender studied at the University of Minnesota , where he was active parallel to his studies for the university's ice hockey team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association , a division in the game operations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Already after his rookie year in which he had been used in 30 games, he was both the NHL Amateur Draft in 1975 in the second round in 31 out of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and in the WHA Amateur Draft in 1975 in the second round selected in 22nd position by the Winnipeg Jets from the World Hockey Association .

After two years at the university, the defensive player moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL in the summer of 1976. In addition to eleven games for the Hershey Bears farm team in the American Hockey League , Anderson quickly established himself with the Penguins and came to 66 NHL appearances in the 1976/77 game year , although he dislocated both shoulders during the season and had to undergo surgery at the end of the season. Nevertheless, the American was an integral part of the Pittsburgh squad for the following four and a half seasons. The only exception was the 1980/81 season , when it was only used 34 times due to an injury. In late December 1981 he was finally given together with an eight-round suffrage in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for Rick MacLeish to the Hartford Whalers .

With the Whalers, the defender fulfilled his contract until the summer of 1983. He played 82 games for the team during this period before he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Kings in September 1983 as a free agent . There he spent two more seasons in the NHL before Anderson declared his career over in the summer of 1985 at the age of 30.

International

For his home country, Anderson took part in the 1977 World Cup in the Austrian capital Vienna . The defender played all ten tournament games, but remained pointless and finished sixth in the final ranking with the US team.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1974/75	University of Minnesota	NCAA		30th	2	7th	9	56
1975/76	University of Minnesota	NCAA		28	0	5	5	81
1976/77	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		66	2	11	13	81		3	0	1	1	14th
1976/77	Hershey Bears	AHL		11	0	4th	4th	35		-	-	-	-	-
1977/78	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		74	2	16	18th	150		-	-	-	-	-
1978/79	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		72	3	13	16	93		2	0	0	0	0
1979/80	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		76	5	22nd	27	150		5	0	2	2	14th
1980/81	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		34	3	14th	17th	112		-	-	-	-	-
1981/82	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		31	0	1	1	98		-	-	-	-	-
1981/82	Hartford Whalers	NHL		25th	1	3	4th	85		-	-	-	-	-
1982/83	Hartford Whalers	NHL		57	0	6th	6th	171		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		70	5	12	17th	126		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		14th	1	1	2	20th		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	New Haven Nighthawks	AHL		6th	0	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-
NCAA overall				58	2	12	14th	137
AHL total				17th	0	6th	6th	37		-	-	-	-	-
NHL overall				519	22nd	99	121	1086		10	0	3	3	28

International

Represented the USA at:

• World Championship 1977

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1977	United States	WM	6th place		10	0	0	0	16
Men overall					10	0	0	0	16

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Russ Anderson at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Russ Anderson at eliteprospects.com (English)