With the trade deadline looming, Rasmus Ristolainen becomes a very interesting player to monitor after having rejuvenated his once highly-touted career with the Philadelphia Flyers after going into a downward spiral on his way out of Buffalo.
For a lot of players a change of scenery or a coaching change are generally seen as catalysts to uplift their game. For Ristolainen you can make an argument that both outcomes were necessary to get his career back on track.
The 30-year-old is in his fourth season with the Flyers and third under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw. When he was brought over to Philadelphia on draft day in the summer of 2021, there was a lot of anger towards the move primarily due to the cost of acquisition.
Former general manager Chuck Fletcher went out of his way to win a bidding war for a soon-to-be expiring former first-round pick that had lost a lot of his flair in his final few seasons with Buffalo.
He traded a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and Robert Hägg before ultimately extending Ristolainen midseason to a 5-year contract.
After an abysmal start to his tenure in Philadelphia, many were hoping that the Flyers would understand that they lost the trade with Buffalo and would then look to flip him at the trade deadline to recoup lost assets.
Instead, Ristolainen was extended for 5 years with a cap hit of $5.1 million – during the stagnant cap era.
Signed to a nearly immovable contract, the Flyers had no choice but to stick with the hulking Finnish defenseman in an attempt to fix the kinks in his game. Tortorella and Shaw did that in very short order and he has truly evolved into exactly the type of player the Flyers were hoping to trade for in the first place.
His offensive numbers are no longer eye-popping as gone are the days where hitting the 40-point mark was a near foregone conclusion. However, his defensive metrics have changed overnight, his plus-minus has been solid for a bottom-feeding team, and his ice-time has risen nearly four minutes per game from last season.
For defensive pairings with over 62 minutes played together, via MoneyPuck.com, Ristolainen has had a hand in three of the Flyers’ top-five pairings this season in xGoals%, two of the top-five pairs in xGoals For Per 60 Minutes, and is part of the top three pairings in xGoals Against Per 60 Minutes.
Whether it’s with Cam York, Egor Zamula, or Emil Andrae, Ristolainen has been the consistent piece on nearly all the successful pairings this season and his quiet season has not gone unnoticed amongst rival general managers.
The Flyers are most likely going to play this situation as similarly as they have done with Scott Laughton. Ristolainen still has 2 years remaining on his contract and his $5.1 million cap hit is no longer an albatross with the salary cap projected to rise by nearly $25 million over the next three seasons combined.
Last year when his name started to generate a buzz and rival executives wanted the Flyers to retain half of his salary to make a deal more palatable, but Daniel Brière and company no longer want to retain salary, especially for multiple years like they did with Kevin Hayes.
One year later and it’s entirely plausible that the Flyers could move on from his contract completely without retention and being able to recoup the same assets they gave up back in 2021.
As they’ve done with Laughton, playing the waiting game hasn’t blossomed the results they were expecting. The Flyers reportedly had offers of a first-round pick on the table for the veteran forward for a few seasons but were asking for a little more, considering they weren’t in a rush to make a move and the term he had remaining on his contract was their biggest bargaining chip.
The Winnipeg Jets reportedly offered a second-round pick in recent weeks and no other team interested in Laughton has risen to the first-round pick that Brière is asking for.
With one year remaining on his deal, it’s entirely plausible that the Flyers continue the waiting game; something they should avoid with Ristolainen if they are 100% sure he no longer fits their plan.
He’s defensively sound, has done a pretty good job on the power play since being promoted to the first unit, he eats a lot of important minutes, blocks a ton of shots, is a great penalty killer, and most importantly is a right-handed shot. All characteristics of a player you would love to have on your team.
The Flyers could look to hold on to him for another season if they feel they don’t have a replacement lined up or if they just don’t want to lose him quite yet. His value might never be higher but there is certainly some apprehension from the front office to move on at this very moment.
Ristolainen is an essential piece to the puzzle but if you’re looking for future assets and young prospects or players, trading him and Laughton with their value at their highest is the Band-Aid you have to rip off.
At the very least, we’ve witnessed Ristolainen’s career rejuvenated and having gone full circle from the pariah he was made out to be in his final days with the Sabres.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login