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Rasmus Ristolainen

Maple Leafs Have Shown Interest In Rasmus Ristolainen

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Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is now healthy after missing the first 20 games of the season with a lower-body injury. The Maple Leafs have shown interest in the 29-year-old in their efforts to add to their blueline, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

The 2013 eighth-overall pick has never been a beacon of defensive acumen throughout his 687 games with the Sabres and Flyers. However, his advanced defensive metrics saw major improvement last season, bringing his on-ice value closer to what you’d expect from a player carrying a $5.1MM cap hit.

After sitting in the bottom tenth percentile of overall even-strength defensive impact during the end of his time in Buffalo and his first season with the Flyers after a 2021 trade, Ristolainen’s defensive play rocketed up to the 87th percentile of all NHL defenders, per wins against replacement data from public analyst Patrick Bacon. His pairing with Nick Seeler last season put up remarkable defensive numbers, allowing less than two expected goals against per 60 minutes on an otherwise defensively weak Flyers team, per MoneyPuck.

In a small sample this season, the trend looks to continue. His partner since returning from injury has been veteran Marc Staal, and the two have controlled a staggering 70.3% of expected goals together – the third-best of any defense pairing this season with at least 30 minutes played together.

That being said, this increase in defensive impact has also come with a significant decrease in usage. In 2021-22, his first season in Philadelphia, Ristolainen logged nearly 19 minutes per game at even strength. Last season, when his possession quality numbers spiked, that number dropped to nearly 16 minutes per game. This year, he’s averaging just 14:30 per game at even strength through five games.

Needless to say, it’s apparent Ristolainen’s sudden increase in value is a little bit of smoke and mirrors. He’s putting up these numbers against much easier competition than the minutes he shouldered early on in his career. His analytics suggest he can be a high-end third-pair defenseman but not much more. Given he’s played a similarly reduced role this season and has just one assist since returning from injury, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for a cap-strapped team such as Toronto to take on his inflated cap hit, which runs through 2027.

Considering the Flyers aren’t in a position to offload assets for less than market value, a trade makes even less sense for the Maple Leafs, given the significant return they’d have to put on the table. As Friedman notes, the Flyers are playing decent hockey, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference with a .560 points percentage and remaining in the playoff race as the holiday season rolls around. That’s much better than anyone expected, and as such, Friedman doesn’t believe the Flyers are actively shopping Ristolainen.

While having T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, and Ristolainen would be a strong complement of right-side defenders, the Maple Leafs simply don’t have the financial flexibility to make a Ristolainen deal worth it for the limited role he would play – or, at least, the limited role he should play to be effective. Limiting chances against during 5-on-5 play is an area of need for Toronto (they’re below the league average in that area), but there are better targets to pursue that can shoulder more minutes with more success.

Take Calgary Flames pending UFA Chris Tanev, for example, as a better bet to improve the team’s defensive play while shouldering over 20 minutes per game. They’ve demonstrated interest in him as well, and he’s higher on their wish list by all accounts. As Friedman also mentions, the Maple Leafs would make a Tanev deal with the confidence that they can extend him given his hometown roots and his connection with ex-Flames and current Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving.

Flyers Activate Rasmus Ristolainen

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Saturday: Ristolainen has officially been taken off LTIR, the team announced.

Wednesday: The Flyers could soon activate defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen off LTIR, Dylan H. Robillard of Olde City Sports Network reports. However, despite returning to practice in full-contact gear yesterday, the right-shot Finn will not enter the lineup tonight versus the Islanders.

Ristolainen, 29, had missed the entire 2023-24 season up to this point with an undisclosed injury. The Flyers didn’t list him as out until October 9 – just one day before the regular season started – making him a rather unexpected absence in the lineup to kick off the campaign.

Now in the second season of a five-year, $25.5MM extension signed with the Flyers in March of 2022, the much-maligned 2013 top-ten pick had one of his best seasons in recent memory in 2022-23. Some reduced usage proved positive for his defensive impacts, skating under 20 minutes per game for the first time since his rookie season. He also notched three goals and 20 points in 74 contests.

While they may not be numbers worthy of his cap hit, Ristolainen remains an NHL-caliber player and should provide competition among the Flyers’ veterans on the backend – namely Marc Staal, who is gearing up to return from a similarly lengthy injury-related absence.

However, Ristolainen’s early-season absence has allowed other players to flourish. Nick Seeler and Yegor Zamula have the best plus-minus ratings on the team with a +10 and +11 mark despite both playing under 17 minutes a game. Their success on the defensive side of the puck, along with Travis Sanheim’s and Sean Walker’s standout play to begin the season, leaves Flyers head coach John Tortorella with some tough decisions on how to utilize Ristolainen moving forward.

With an open spot on the 23-man roster and ample cap space, the Flyers do not need to make a corresponding move to take Ristolainen off LTIR.

Metropolitan Notes: Kane, Hischier, Ristolainen

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ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported today on The Drop that unrestricted free agent forward Patrick Kane reportedly would like to make another run with the New York Rangers but at this point Rangers general manager Chris Drury has been apprehensive due to the team’s lack of cap space as well as the chemistry they’ve build under head coach Peter Laviolette.

Kane was unhappy with last season and his inability to be healthy due to his hip injury. According to Kaplan, Kane felt like he played most of the season on one leg and never had a chance to be an impact player.

Kaplan didn’t rule out the possibility of Kane returning to the Rangers but said that if he were to return it would be similar to last season when Kane essentially forced a trade to the Rangers. Obviously, this wouldn’t be a trade, but if Kane was willing to take a low salary, he could force the Rangers hand as the upside of signing the three-time cup winner might be too much for the Rangers to ignore.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted that center Nico Hischier will travel with the club but will not dress in tomorrow night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. The 24-year-old returned to practice yesterday signalling that his return could come soon as he battles his way back from an upper-body injury he suffered on October 27th in a game against the Buffalo Sabres. The Devils have struggled with Hischier out of the lineup, going 4-5 in his absence. The 2017 first-overall pick struggled to start the year with just two goals in seven games but had a career year last year with 80 points in 81 games.
  • Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia is reporting that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was in a regular jersey at practice today, indicating that he can take contact. Ristolainen’s return to a regular practice jersey signals that he is close to making his season debut for the Flyers as he has been on the shelf since suffering an undisclosed injury during training camp. When he is healthy enough to play, the Flyers will need to activate him off LTIR and make room available on their active roster which will likely mean a demotion for a player such as Louis Belpedio.

Flyers Notes: Staal, Hart, Ristolainen

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PHLY Sportswriter Charlie O’Connor tweeted that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Marc Staal is very close to returning to the Flyers lineup but will not return for tomorrow night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Staal has missed 11 straight games with what was being called an upper-body injury, but he confirmed to the media today that he was suffering from a rib injury.

Due to the length of his absence, Staal can be activated off injured reserve at any point, and it appears from Staal’s perspective that a weekend return is possible, although the ultimate decision would fall to the Flyers training staff.

Staal has dressed in just four games for the Flyers this season after signing a one-year $1.1MM deal with the team in the offseason. He has no points in those four games and has averaged over 15 minutes of ice time per game.

In other Flyers notes:

  • Sam Carchidi tweeted that Flyers goaltender Carter Hart should be good to return to the net for tomorrow night’s game against Carolina. Hart has been sidelined with several different issues which have led to a five-game absence. Hart left the game during Philadelphia’s 5-2 loss to Buffalo on November 1st and proceeded to miss the next three games with a mid-body injury before he came down with food poisoning and missed two additional games. Hart has been good for the Flyers thus far this season with a 4-3-0 record with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
  • Carchidi also tweeted that Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is getting closer to a return as he practiced with the team for the first time today. The 29-year-old has yet to dress in a game this season as he has been dealing with a lower-body injury and suffered a setback in the middle of October that kept him off the ice for nearly a month. Ristolainen had three goals and 17 assists last season in 74 games while registering 162 hits and 142 blocked shots.

Metropolitan Notes: Ristolainen, Pelech, Pacioretty

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The Flyers have placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on LTIR, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link).  The move was necessary to afford yesterday’s recall of goaltender Cal Petersen.  Ristolainen has yet to play this season due to an undisclosed injury, one that he had a setback in recovering from last month.  The LTIR placement can be made retroactively; assuming that was done here, he will have already missed the required 10 games and 24 days which means he will be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return.  The 29-year-old had 20 points, 142 blocks, and 162 hits in 70 games with Philadelphia last season.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Defenseman Adam Pelech is dealing with a lower-body injury and won’t play tonight against Carolina, notes Cory Wright of the Islanders’ team site. The 29-year-old left Thursday’s victory over Washington early in the first period.  However, Pelech did skate before practice today (but left before the team’s morning skate) which is an encouraging sign for a possible short-term absence.  The blueliner has gotten off to a bit of a slow start this season with just a single point in nine games while once again logging over 20 minutes a night.
  • Capitals winger Max Pacioretty skated for the second time today as he continues to work his way back from a torn Achilles, relays Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter link). The veteran suffered the injury in just his fifth game last season after working his way back from a torn Achilles.  Pacioretty inked a one-year deal with Washington this summer, one that carries a $2MM base salary and $2MM in games played bonuses that will be fully payable at the 20-game mark.

Anaheim Ducks Recall Robert Hagg

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced a roster move today ahead of tomorrow night’s matchup against the Boston Bruins. The Ducks announced that defenseman Robert Hagg has been recalled from their AHL affiliate in San Diego and will join the team in Boston.  The move comes just three weeks after the team exposed Hagg to waivers before assigning him to the AHL.

Hagg was the Philadelphia Flyers 2013 second-round pick and is a veteran of 338 NHL games split over a seven-year career. The 28-year-old spent last season with the Detroit Red Wings where he posted two goals and five assists in 38 games. Hagg has been an NHL regular since 2016-17 when he broke into the league with the Flyers and has 16 career goals and 47 assists.

The native of Uppsala, Sweden signed a one-year/one-way contract with the Ducks on July 4th and has dressed in three AHL games this season, posting a single assist. He has bounced around the league the last few seasons between the Red Wings last year and the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres in 2021-22. Teams have always been enticed by Hagg’s size and his willingness to block shots, but his limited puck skills have always kept him from catching on with a team long-term.

In 2018-19, Hagg looked as though he was emerging as a part of the Flyers top-6 defensemen dressing in 82 games and putting up 20 points. However, during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season Hagg’s play regressed leading to him being part of the Flyers and Sabres trade that saw fellow defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen go the other way.

Snapshots: Vlasic, Ristolainen, Buchnevich

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Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is slated to be a healthy scratch for San Jose’s game against the Florida Panthers. It’s his first scratching since January 4, 2022 – when Vlasic was held out of a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. He returned to the lineup in the team’s next game and appeared in 48 more games throughout the 2021-22 season.

San Jose dressed seven defenders in their most recent game and Vlasic proved the odd-man-out, receiving a team-low six minutes of ice time. The matchup was another trip in a tumbling year for the 36-year-old defenseman, who has lost games to injury and now a scratching this season. Vlasic is signed to an annual cap hit of $7MM through the 2025-26 season, with a modified-no trade clause in each of his final three seasons and a signing bonus in the final two. It’s a lofty contract for a player that will now find himself in a press box. Vlasic is a veteran of 1243 NHL games – all of which were spent with the Sharks franchise. He was a pivotal piece of the team’s hefty roster through the 2010s but may be looking back on his glory days at this point in his career. How the veteran responds to the healthy scratching will be worth following for Sharks fans hoping Vlasic can find ways to make an impact.

Other notes around the league:

Metro Notes: Johnson, Svechnikov, Butcher, Ristolainen

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2021 fifth-overall pick Kent Johnson had a stellar rookie season in 2022-23, scoring 16 goals and 40 points. The British Columbia native is one of the most purely skilled players in the NHL and is capable of creating highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis. Despite that stellar first campaign, it appears Johnson currently sits on the outside of new head coach Pascal Vincent’s nightly lineup.

Team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed confirmation from Vincent that Johnson is currently considered an extra skater, and although Vincent added that he is “not sure [Johnson’s] not going to play” he maintained that he could only dress so many forwards. At the moment, players such as Emil Bemström and Justin Danforth are projected to hold positions on the team’s second and third lines, respectively, but one would think that Johnson will end up back in the nightly lineup sooner rather than later.

Some other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette reports that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov remains in a yellow non-contact jersey, and as a result, is presumably out for tomorrow’s season-opening game. Svechnikov is still working his way back from a torn ACL that cut his 2022-23 season short. When healthy, he’s among the Hurricanes’ best players, and last season was on pace to score a career-high 70 points.
  • The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh reports that defenseman Will Butcher skated this morning, a positive development for a player who missed all of training camp and preseason due to injury. Butcher has begun this season on season-opening injured reserve, but when he eventually becomes ready to play it’s likely he’ll find himself waived and sent to the AHL. Butcher signed a one-year, league-minimum deal in Pittsburgh likely with the hope that he would compete for a depth role on the Penguins’ NHL defense, but due to this injury it’s now likely that he’ll have to work his way into NHL consideration with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. 2022-23 was Butcher’s first in the AHL, and he impressed scoring 43 points in 67 games.
  • Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is currently on injured reserve, though his stay there could be coming to an end. PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor reports that Ristolainen was on the ice for Flyers practice today, and NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall relays word from Flyers GM Daniel Brière that Ristolainen’s IR placement can be backdated, and he therefore could become eligible to play the team’s season-opening contest against Columbus on Thursday. Ristolainen showed improved form under head coach John Tortorella last season and if he plays his activation could mean rookie Emil Andrae is assigned to the AHL or Felix Sandström gets placed on waivers.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Blackwood, Ristolainen

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with three Western Conference superstars making the cut. Jason Robertson is on top after scoring four goals and eight points in three games. After missing training camp, Robertson has picked up right where he left off last season and now has eight goals and 18 points in 12 games.

Second and third went to Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Karlsson, who each had their own impressive weeks. The Colorado Avalanche center had seven assists in the two games overseas, both wins in Finland, to become the league’s all-time scoring leader in games played outside of North America. Karlsson meanwhile had four goals and eight points in three games including a hat trick and has already matched his goal total from last year (ten) in just 14 games.

  • Mackenzie Blackwood has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain, and will meet with doctors tomorrow for further evaluation according to New Jersey Devils team reporter Amanda Stein. Blackwood left a game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 3, leaving the Devils with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid as their tandem for the time being.
  • After being scratched on the weekend, some wondered whether Rasmus Ristolainen was still dealing with the effects of his previous injury. Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella told reporters including Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer that Ristolainen’s injury isn’t the issue and that “everything about his game needs to be better” when he gets back into the lineup.

Rasmus Ristolainen Moved To Injured Reserve

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The Philadelphia Flyers are 2-0 and they have only allowed four goals on the year. They’ve been able to do that without highly-paid defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury suffered late in camp. Today, they have moved Ristolainen to injured reserve and recalled Zack MacEwen and Louis Belpedio, meaning they’ll have to keep playing without the big Finn for the next little while.

Given that the IR placement is retroactive, Ristolainen can come back basically at any point. But moving him off the roster at least suggests that he’s going to miss some more time.

Many fans of the team will be excited about the move, given it brings back tough guy MacEwen, who became a favorite last season when he was racking up 110 penalty minutes in 75 games. The 26-year-old forward gives the team another player who can skate and throw huge hits, while dropping the gloves whenever necessary.

Belpedio, meanwhile, gives the team another defensive option, though the group has looked pretty good so far. The 26-year-old has played in just four games at the NHL level in the past but is a strong two-way presence in the minor leagues and is coming off an impressive Calder Cup playoff run with the Laval Rocket.

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