It's gonna be the same thing as ROR when we trade Risto this summer.

A coach will give him 65% o zone starts w/ PP1 and he'll put up 65 points with an even +/-

For the record, I'm not even against this scenario. But the return better be good
- jcragcrumple

Except ROR was actually good. His reputation was exaggerated, but he was a legit 2nd line center.

Ristolainen has never been actually good

Bingo.

Time to go
- sbroads24

I think it's time for 10 or so to go


risto, mccabe, scandella, pommer, sobotka, larsson, girgens, wilson, sheary, okposo, nelson, hunwick

for starters

so he is not going to have a few norris trophies when all is said and done?

first it was myers, then risto

now we are down to dahlin


screw it we never have a norris trophy finalist in buffalo
- homiedclown

Nelson and Norris both start with “N”. Both have six letters. Coincidence?

It's gonna be the same thing as ROR when we trade Risto this summer.

A coach will give him 65% o zone starts w/ PP1 and he'll put up 65 points with an even +/-

For the record, I'm not even against this scenario. But the return better be good
- jcragcrumple

Fine, another team wants him to play 18 minutes a night and be on their PP1, dandy. Just don't trade him for a bunch of players that will provide more negative impact than Risto already does.

I'm glad we actually have a guy who can reasonably attain that goal.
- TheSabresTaco

we can always hope for the gum chewing award winner

Nelson and Norris both start with “N”. Both have six letters. Coincidence?
- PrinceChill

he needs to be put down like old yeller

Except ROR was actually good. His reputation was exaggerated, but he was a legit 2nd line center.

Ristolainen has never been actually good
- sbroads24

Disagree on the last part. He's never been utilized properly, and he's 100% not a defensive defenseman. But we don't have any defensemen that are good at defense.

Like I said, I assume he'll be traded, and I'm sure his numbers will improve when he's put in a position to succeed. I'm totally fine with all of that. I just want the return to be good

he needs to be put down like old yeller
- homiedclown

But that head of hair!

Nelson and Norris both start with “N”. Both have six letters. Coincidence?
- PrinceChill

Finkle is Einhorn.

Fine, another team wants him to play 18 minutes a night and be on their PP1, dandy. Just don't trade him for a bunch of players that will provide more negative impact than Risto already does.
- TheSabresTaco

It's a pickle. We've (read: Housley) tanked his value by giving him 48% o zone starts. If we knew that we were gonna suck this year, they should have just played Bogo and Scandella in the D zone the whole time and given Risto 65% o zone starts to up his value

It's a pickle. We've (read: Housley) tanked his value by giving him 48% o zone starts. If we knew that we were gonna suck this year, they should have just played Bogo and Scandella in the D zone the whole time and given Risto 65% o zone starts to up his value
- jcragcrumple

This checks out.

I get that you said that, but Bogo who is 2nd in TOI is -5
3rd in TOI is Montour -1 (time with Sabres)
4th is Dahlin -8

Montour and Dahlin are also offensive defensemen right?

I'd bet a good amount of money that if you gave Dahlin and Montour, hell, even Bogo another 2 minutes of ice time per game that none of them would be -42
- CoHo_to_B-Lo

And I’m not saying we shouldn’t do that

Pretty much all of us- and even the Sabres coaches- have said they want to lower Risto’s icetime
Why don’t they end up doing it?
Beats me

But it also doesn’t mean we should ship him off for a poor return

This checks out.
- PrinceChill

It also doesn't help your +/- when your own forwards don't ever score goals

My friends who aren't complete hockey nuts like myself like teams like Tampa, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Minnesota.

And me over here just being a fan of a poophole franchise that cant figure it the (frank) out.

I don't know how it impacts it... but at this point isn't it worth giving him or ANYBODY else a shot in the D-Zone over Risto?
- CoHo_to_B-Lo

How you’re used is going to dictate +/- pretty heavily

I think if u just get away from using +/- as a way to say Risto isn’t good defensively,
this argument would stall quite a bit

No one thinks Risto is an “All Star”
No one is saying he doesn’t make plenty of mistakes in his own end

But it’s also gotten WAY overexaggerated
Like when Beady was trying to say the 1st goal last night was on Risto
It absolutely was NOT
He’s the only one on that play that actually did what he was supposed to

My friends who aren't complete hockey nuts like myself like teams like Tampa, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Minnesota.

And me over here just being a fan of a poophole franchise that cant figure it the (frank) out.
- Sabre_Tooth

I'm with ya tooth

How you’re used is going to dictate +/- pretty heavily

I think if u just get away from using +/- as a way to say Risto isn’t good defensively,
this argument would stall quite a bit

No one thinks Risto is an “All Star”
No one is saying he doesn’t make plenty of mistakes in his own end

But it’s also gotten WAY overexaggerated
Like when Beady was trying to say the 1st goal last night was on Risto
It absolutely was NOT
He’s the only one on that play that actually did what he was supposed to
- jdfitz77

https://twitter.com/llyso.../1110320473148149761?s=21
Really poor awareness by Ristolainen here. Couldn’t sense that no one was coming backdoor and the dangerous play was in front of him.

I'm with ya tooth
- TheHank

It's (frank)in miserable lol. Maybe one day...

Disagree on the last part. He's never been utilized properly, and he's 100% not a defensive defenseman. But we don't have any defensemen that are good at defense.

Like I said, I assume he'll be traded, and I'm sure his numbers will improve when he's put in a position to succeed. I'm totally fine with all of that. I just want the return to be good
- jcragcrumple

No offense but this is just total BS at this point, 5 years and 4 coaches in.

He’s been given the most PP time of any D man - check

He’s been given the most ice time of any D man with Eichel - check

2016- present, wanna guess where he ranks in O-zone starts at 5 on 5?? 20th in the entire league over three years

Man I remember when O'Reilly, Kane and Lehner were the problem. It's at least comforting to know they arent doing anything for their new teams...

No offense but this is just total BS at this point, 5 years and 4 coaches in.

He’s been given the most PP time of any D man - check

He’s been given the most ice time of any D man with Eichel - check

2016- present, wanna guess where he ranks in O-zone starts at 5 on 5?? 20th in the entire league over three years
- sbroads24

Isn't that a function of how much ice time he got or is this O-zone starting percentage?

Man I remember when O'Reilly, Kane and Lehner were the problem. It's at least comforting to know they arent doing anything for their new teams...
- Mentalorgasm5

Hmmmmm

Isn't that a function of how much ice time he got or is this O-zone starting percentage?
- RhinoFan

Of course. But the other D men who received these type of O. Zone starts are the elite offensive D men in the league.

Risto can barely crack 40 points given every advantage possible.

The narrative that we saddled him in the D zone with Larsson for 20 min a night is just false.

We’ve used him correctly. He just isn’t good

Disagree on the last part. He's never been utilized properly, and he's 100% not a defensive defenseman. But we don't have any defensemen that are good at defense.

Like I said, I assume he'll be traded, and I'm sure his numbers will improve when he's put in a position to succeed. I'm totally fine with all of that. I just want the return to be good
- jcragcrumple

Exactly

Or if we keep him... use him better

The biggest fault I’ve seen in our coaching is that we don’t put players in a position to succeed
They’re often used in situations they aren’t capable of excelling in

The biggest fault in our GMs is not giving the coaches the correct players

Often, guys are just misused bc our coaches just don’t have much choice

Ya. Knew someone would deflect with that answer.
Cop out.
Although I should have said
What can you do to bring out the absolute best of you.
- IonSabres

If you think having only one line that's any kind of danger on the ice and the other team has to just suffocate them, and then blame the only players that actually score is viable, go for it. The best teams have depth. The Sabres are playing Girgensons, Larsson, and ERod 14-16 minutes a night, that's not going to get it done.