The trade
Flyers get: defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen
Sabres get: 2021 first-round pick (No. 14), 2023 second-round pick, defenseman Robert Hagg
The grades
Dom Luszczyszyn: Let’s start positively: Finally, a win for Buffalo. A MASSIVE win for Buffalo. The common thread throughout the Sabres’ struggles to get out of the basement over the last decade has been Ristolainen. The difference between every player’s numbers with him on the ice and on the bench is absolutely staggering and that’s perfectly encapsulated by the team’s franchise player, Jack Eichel (who’s also on the way out). Over the last three seasons, Eichel has spent nearly 1,000 minutes with Ristolainen and in that time has a 46 percent goal rate. It’s 55 percent without him. By expected goals RAPM (a regressed version of expected goals that takes into account teammates and competition) Ristolainen’s effect is the 22nd worst among all defenders and the third-worst by goals. On a consistently bad Sabres team, Ristolainen has always been the anchor dragging everyone down.
He’s a liability at both ends of the ice prone to awful decision-making and has been incredibly miscast in a tough minutes role. It is true that Ristolainen has played very tough minutes, but his results within those minutes have been so consistently bad every year (while often playing with a strong top line anchored by Eichel) that it’s difficult to imagine there’ll be a substantial improvement in a lesser role.
