Rasmus Ristolainen: The $5M, 0 percentile defenseman

[Striiker]

Just trying to find those cookies you like. Would Hate to come back before I found them for you.

Oh ok, awesome. Thanks.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

 

[Striiker]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

Worse.

 

[Magua]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

I’m going to need a spiritual sequel.

 

[Fire Tortorella]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

At least MacDonald was kind or sorta not really but a little decent at some point, then overpaid.

Risto is just Risto.

 

[deadhead]

Risto is playing better with Seeler, go figure.

But if you don't see him as a prototype defensive defenseman, he may be better partnered with a stay at home D-man rather than a roamer like Sanheim, where he can go back to contributing on offense like he did in Buffalo. He has a good shot, he has good speed for a D-man his size, he's just never going to be a shut-down defenseman. Lacks the instincts for that role.

The real issue for him is to play within himself, not chase hits, use his body in front of the net, block shots.
He doesn't have to be great defensively, just avoid being a liability.

Given it's a lost season, the extension is what it is, trying to salvage what they can is the only thing they can do.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

The real issue for him is to play within himself, not chase hits, use his body in front of the net, block shots.
He doesn't have to be great defensively, just avoid being a liability.

This is what should be said about a guy trying to work his way into the NHL, not the guy with a decade of pro experience in the first year of a $25M contract.

Man, what I wouldn't do for a compliance buyout effective tomorrow....

 

[Striiker]

This is what should be said about a guy trying to work his way into the NHL, not the guy with a decade of pro experience in the first year of a $25M contract.

Man, what I wouldn't do for a compliance buyout effective tomorrow....

We need like 5 of them.

 

[Rich Nixon]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

It is. That's what I can't stop thinking about. Like we never escape. This team will have a $5 million idiot #9 defenseman on the roster until we all die. Names and faces will change, style of suck might be different, but there will always be one.

 

[Chicken N Raffls]

This is literally Andrew MacDonald all over again.

I'd honestly prefer starfish. Always felt he had at least some sort of hockey IQ, just not a very good hockey player physically, whereas Risto seems the opposite, but worse.

Stat folks feel free to correct me on this, but I thought Amac was somehow less of a liability. It's been awhile since he was here though, and maybe the "hype" around Risto is skewing my opinion. Mark me down for team starfish though. Who'da thunk it lol

 

[Striiker]

This team will have a $5 million idiot #9 defenseman on the roster until we all die.

Actually Provorov makes $6.5m

 

[Chicken N Raffls]

I’m going to need a spiritual sequel.

That video is a classic, I just wish it had my favorite Amac moment. Skating the puck straight up the middle out of his zone, nobody near him, and just flops on his face. I almost felt bad for the guy, because it was embarrassing. On the other hand, watching people fall makes me laugh, and the camera angle where you can see his face...priceless.

Seeing those clips of Hak brings back the feels. I can't believe I'd ever look at the Hak/Amac years and think "better times", but here we are. Everything is awesome.

 

[Larry44]

Ristolainen never should have been acquired or extended. For his sake he needs to be moved. If he stays here and continues to play like he has, the fans will grind him into the ice. This isn’t Buffalo where the fans will boo and then ignore you. In Philly the fans will make you wish that you never came here on and away from the rink.

Risto is the first player in NHL history to be acquired because of a cameo appearance on Vikings. Sad.

 

[Shrike]

The first page of this thread is a shining example of how Deadhead’s take on anything related to hockey is usually wrong.

 

[FLYguy3911]

The first page of this thread is a shining example of how Deadhead’s take on anything related to hockey is usually wrong.

Yandle was great on TV last night!

Ghost could never.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

Yandle was great on TV last night!

Ghost could never.

and cheaper...

 

[deadhead]

Sanheim - Risto >> Sanheim - Myers.

Myers is a walking goal sieve, somehow he puts up good metrics but leaks goals, an anomaly that's opposite some scorers who score more goals than you'd expect from their xGF/60.

I'll wait and see how Risto progresses under Shaw, he's actually playing well paired with Seeler, but it's a small sample.

Yandle fell off the cliff after the first few weeks, but Ghost sucks as anything but a 3rd pair, PP specialist.
GF/GA 6/16, CF% 40.28%, CFrel -2.52, xGF 37.59%, xGFrel -0.68.
Now that D-corp sucks, except for Valimaki (CF 49.48%, xGF 53.25%), but Ghost isn't heads and shoulders above some bad players.
He's on their first pair, but AMac was on the Islander's first pair, and that was a better team than Zona.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Sanheim - Risto >> Sanheim - Myers.

Myers is a walking goal sieve, somehow he puts up good metrics but leaks goals, an anomaly that's opposite some scorers who score more goals than you'd expect from their xGF/60.

I'll wait and see how Risto progresses under Shaw, he's actually playing well paired with Seeler, but it's a small sample.

Yandle fell off the cliff after the first few weeks, but Ghost sucks as anything but a 3rd pair, PP specialist.
GF/GA 6/16, CF% 40.28%, CFrel -2.52, xGF 37.59%, xGFrel -0.68.
Now that D-corp sucks, except for Valimaki (CF 49.48%, xGF 53.25%), but Ghost isn't heads and shoulders above some bad players.
He's on their first pair, but AMac was on the Islander's first pair, and that was a better team than Zona.

Remember that time that Fletcher signed Myers to that horrible contract after “he was leaking so many goals in the playoffs that no one wanted him”?

I remember.

Risto blows also. No coach is fixing him. We’ve seen this already. There’s nothing that is going to click for him that will make him even a serviceable player in this league.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Risto isn’t going to improve. He is what he is, a terrible defenseman

 

[Curufinwe]

Just a 3rd pairing dman who has zero points, gets caved in at ES, and isn't even one of the team's top 4 penalty killers. A real bargain at $5,100,000. Great job, Chuck.

 

[Nizzle]

Director of European Scouting of Eliteprospects went through Ristolainen's every shift prior to his benching. The thread is in Finnish but contains lots of videos that speak for themselves:

 

[VladDrag]

Myers is a walking goal sieve, somehow he puts up good metrics but leaks goals, an anomaly that's opposite some scorers who score more goals than you'd expect from their xGF/60.

I'll wait and see how Risto progresses under Shaw, he's actually playing well paired with Seeler, but it's a small sample.

You know Myers has only played 11 games this year, and Ristochas played 12? Correct me if I am wrong but 11 is less than 12.

 

[deadhead]

Up to 102 minutes now.
Seeler - Risto: CF 42.81%, xGF 53.71%, HDCF 65.82%
compare to (94 minutes)
Seeler - Zamula CF 41.17%, xGF 42.07%, HDCF 43.51%
Now Zamula's minutes came mostly in the first ten games when the team was still feeling out Torts' schemes.

So far they've been really solid, could be SSS, could be sheltered role, or could be chemistry and giving Risto a CYA partner.
Watching Risto the last few games, Shaw is working on him staying in position, not chasing hits, and using his stick and his reach to take the puck instead of going for the body.
Risto is suited to this scheme on offense, he's like a PF when he attacks the O-zone.

It's a long season, we'll see how he progresses.
But right now the concern should be the awful chemistry between Provorov and TDA.

 

[renberg]

But right now the concern should be the awful chemistry between Provorov and TDA.

This. TDA isn’t much but the a lot of the demise of this pair has to go on Provorov. He’s run out of excuses as to why most every partner he gets is a fail.

 

[volnoir]

Sanheim - Risto >> Sanheim - Myers.

Wow so Risto's comparables are undrafted waived and bounced around the NHL defenseman. Really speaks volumes to how much value he has and how much his worth is. Great argument!