Deal for Ristolainen bolsters defense
The subject of a Chuck Fletcher search since shortly after he became Flyers general manager, Rasmus Ristolainen seems to know what makes him an attractive fit in Philadelphia.
“I would say I’m a player that the other team hates to play against, and I try to be pain in the ass,” Ristolainen said Friday in his first interview as a member of the Flyers. “I can do everything — play penalty kill, power play; I can pass the puck, I can shoot the puck and I can play any type of role.”
Oh, and in case you missed it, he likes to be a pain in the opposition’s ...
Then again, the Buffalo Sabres have been on the back side of NHL success farther than almost every other league team in the last decade. Ristolainen, a highly regarded defensive prospect when taken No. 8 overall by the Sabres in 2013, probably didn’t know what he was in for. Almost an immediate hit out of the box in Buffalo, he nevertheless has never had the opportunity to experience an NHL playoff game.
That, too, can be a pain for a player.
“We had really tough years in Buffalo and I played a big part,” he said. “I was one of the leaders there and we couldn’t make the playoffs, so that’s not good. And obviously when that’s the case, you’ve got to make some moves and players get traded. And now I’m very excited to go to Philadelphia.
“All I care (about) is to win. I don’t care what my role will be.”
What his role will be here is pretty easy to define, however. Ristolainen, 26, fills out to 6-foot-4 and nearly 220 pounds. And he
likes to use that size to full advantage. To complete the long effort to successfully acquire Ristolainen, Fletcher had to part with the Flyers’ scheduled No. 13 overall draft pick in Friday night’s first round of the draft. He also had to part with a second-round pick (2023) and, oh yeah, defenseman Robert Hagg.
While Hagg, who went 33 selections after Ristolainen at No. 41 overall in that 2013 draft, had been a frequent healthy scratch under head coach Alain Vigneault, he was also the best — some would say only — physical force on the ice for the Flyers, who while wallowing in mediocrity have gained the reputation of being one of the softer of NHL clubs.
Sort of the Broad Street Anti-Bullies.
“I can say for sure that they have a lot of skill up front,” the diplomatic Ristolainen said when asked directly about the Flyers being a bit of a soft touch. “That was probably one of their strengths, and when you don’t have too many big bodies up there you are less physical. But I think I can help bring some physicality.”
That would be an immediate mandate.
“I like our defense corps; I felt we had good pieces,” Fletcher said. “But we felt we lacked a little bit of size and physicality on the back end . ... With stability and putting him in with an experienced partner, he can fit in nicely with our group. He can shoot the puck, he can skate, he’s big and strong.”
He can chip in on the scoreboard (46 goals, 245 points career), but also logs an ugly minus-163 plus-minus rating from his eight years in Buffalo. But hey, this is the Sabres we’re talking about.
Last season they finished with the NHL’s worst record for the fourth time in Ristolainen’s eight seasons. They last made the playoffs in 2011, two years before he was drafted. Lost to the Flyers in seven games in the first round that year. Fortune hasn’t smiled on either team much since then.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, the last two seasons,” Ristolainen said of moving on from Buffalo. “Where I am at my best is when I play meaningful games. And I see myself as a playoff-type player . ... I need to get some meaningful games and try to make the playoffs.”
Noting his frequently changing roster of partners and five different head coaches and frequent management upheavals at Buffalo, Ristolainen said, “When you change coaches and then you change GMs every year or every other year, it’s hard to build something. Going into a new team, a new situation for me, I’m super excited and I feel that I can fit in pretty quickly.”
With the Shayne Gostisbehere give-up deal to Arizona on Thursday and the acquisition of veteran defender Ryan Ellis from Nashville last Saturday, Fletcher essentially re-faced his defense in six days.
Gone are failed 2017 No. 2 overall pick Nolan Patrick, defensemen Phil Myers, Gostisbehere and Hagg, the Flyers’ first-round pick Friday night and two second-round picks and one seventh-round pick. Newly acquired are veteran blueliners Ellis and Ristolainen, and the team retains $10.8 million in cap space.
Ristolainen only has one year remaining on his deal at a $5.4 million cap hit, and both sides more or less declined to speculate about when or if a contract extension would be forthcoming. For now, the Flyers simply don’t have the money, needing to add rookies Morgan Frost, Wade Allison and Cam York, along with a free agent backup goalie and maybe a checking line forward by training camp.
Meanwhile, new defenseman and team are happy he’s finally here. Ristolainen split his rookie season between Buffalo and its AHL affiliate in Rochester. But over the last seven seasons, he’s only missed 27 Sabres games, pretty durable for a physical player. Only a case of COVID leveled him for a while last season and took a lot of steam out of it.
“But now I feel fine,” he said. “I’ve been working hard to get going again.”