@boosbuzzsabres
In this series we build the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster one by one leading up to the season opener on October 3.
RHD--Rasmus Ristolainen
24 yrs. old
6'4" 215 lbs.
2013, 8th-overall
Career Stats: 424 games | 36 goals | 158 assists | 194 points | -143
Rasmus Ristolainen is easily the most polarizing on-ice player to skate for the Buffalo Sabres since goalie Ryan Miller. The 24 yr. old defenseman has been the workhorse for a team that has been historically bad not only in the National Hockey League, but throughout all of the four major North American Sports. With futility oozing into every crevice of Sabreland, Buffalo's league-long, eight-year playoff drought, which includes three last place finishes, brings the blame-game to unprecedented levels and seems to have touched every player at some level or another. Jack Eichel isn't Connor McDavid. Sam Reinhart stinks and was drafted too high. Ryan O'Reilly is over-rated. Robin Lehner was a flake. Evander Kane wasn't very good on the ice and even worse off it. Zemgus Girgensons should be shipped to Siberia, Jeff Skinner is one-dimensional and now severely overpaid, etc, etc., etc.
And so it goes.
Such is a whipping-boy mentality in Buffalo that dates back to Sabres goalie Tom Barrasso, who won the 1983 Calder and Vezina Trophies as rookie straight out of high school, but was considered to be too abrasive and never good enough for Buffalo after his rookie season. He went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 90's after being traded there in November, 1988.
Ristolainen was drafted by the Sabres eighth-overall in 2013 and made his NHL debut that season playing in 34 games with the team embarking on the first of two consecutive tank seasons. In his 5 1/2 seasons while donning the Blue and Gold he's played under his three general managers and is slated to play for his fourth NHL head coach in Buffalo. All three of his prior coaches relied heavily upon him to anchor the defense to which he gladly obliged. In his five full-time seasons Ristolainen is 11th in the league in average time on ice (24:41) and is 24th in points amongst defenseman with 190. On the downside, however, he is tied for 49th with 94 even-strength points and is a league-worst minus-128 with the closest player to him being Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson at minus-93.
For as much as people like to bag on plus/minus as a useless stat, those same people tend to bring it up, especially when it's as poor as Ristolainen's. Then again, some say plus/minus is more indicative of a team-stat in which case Ristolainen's play is on par with the way the rest of the team had played.
The whole situation has ground the Finnish defenseman down and at locker cleanout, as well as into the summer, he's given slight indications that he's had enough and would like to move on. Ristolainen's name has been hot in the rumor mill since the 2019 trade deadline but nothing has come of it so far. By the looks of it he'll be starting a new season in Buffalo under his fourth head coach with the hopes that maybe this one will bring out the best in him.
Just what is the best?
Ristolainen is a big (6'4", 215 lb.,) rugged defenseman who skates extremely well and has shown at times that he can dazzle with the puck. He's excelled while playing against some of the top players in the league but has also shown a tendency for brain-farts that usually end up in their own net. He's got a snarl to his game but rarely fights, he plays a powerful north/south game but can get beat with speed and quickness on the outside, he keeps himself in top physical shape, works hard and has played in 424 career games yet still looks like a rookie at times.
When Ristoalinen was drafted by GM Darcy Regier's regime the theme at the time was bigger, stronger, faster. When Tim Murray replaced Regier, he seemed to be geared towards heavies in a western conference mold. Present GM Jason Botterill has this team heading in a modern direction featuring pace, quickness and puck movement, none of which are Ristolainen's particular strengths. How far Botterill and Co. go in this direction on the blueline remains to be seen, but with Rasmus Dahlin anchoring the d-corps and with the defensive additions he's made, it looks as if he'll be going all-in with that type of blueliner.
Dahlin and Ristolainen were on Buffalo's top-pairing for a stint last season but it didn't go very well and then head coach Phil Housley kept them separated with Risto remaining up top and Dahlin on the second, or even the third, pairing. Where new head coach Ralph Krueger takes it this season is yet to be determined but he's in a perfect position to back off Ristolainen's ice-time to an all-situations average time on ice in the 20-22 minute range. Which was something the previous two coaches had talked about but, for some reason, never did.
Which brings us back to the chicken-and-egg thing with Ristolainen. Was the team bad because he was playing all of those minutes? Or was his poor overall numbers in some areas and choppy play a direct result of the team around him?
Regardless of that, which will always be the essence of the debate over him in Buffalo, should he be on the team opening night, a second-pairing slot with Jake McCabe, makes a lot of sense. The two had played well together in the past as a bruising duo that seemed to have a lot of chemistry.
Building the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster:
LW, Jeff Skinner /
C, Jack Eichel/
RW, Sam Reinhart
LW, Jimmy Vesey /
C, Casey Mittelstadt /
RW, Marcus Johansson
LHD, Rasmus Dahlin /
RHD, Brandon Montour
LHD, Jake McCabe /
RHD, Rasmus Ristolainen
G, Carter Hutton
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