Skinner walks Aquiring 3 2nd liners

I'm not sure about that bolts trade.... They do need an rhd. If they think stralman will resign on a short term deal to play top pair this might work.

TB declines. Miller and Raddysh too good to give up for Risto, who might end up being just detrimental to their defense.

Funny how the narrative changes once a player goes on the ACGM a lot. Ristolainen was used so incorrectly by Housley. No way he should’ve been getting 55% DZone draws against top lines.

He’s a 2nd pair D given cushioned minutes, ideally with a good partner. You put him in that situation? He’s a 45pt D that people will love. And that has value.

Maybe. But currently he's considered as a D that does as good work defensively as a traffic cone does.

And that has low value.

You all make good points.


I agree, see below. What do you think of that comment?

I agree that he plays too many minutes, but every HC has played him for over 24 minutes his entire career.
See my comment below, hard to believe but maybe Betterall would want more? But maybe I am looking at Ristolainen with rose colored glasses.


Not quite as low as a traffic cone. He often makes poor decisions, plays too many minutes, has too many defensive zone starts and has not dramatically improved his game since Housley became his coach. He is extremely talented, he skates well, he is fast, he passes well, he has a good shot but his +/- is deplorable. I do not know how to evaluate him. He is riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Chara was a career -54 until he turned 24, Hedman was -3 until Tampa became a Stanley playoff team. I would hate to see Ristolainen traded away only to discover his game the year after he was trades.

I would not say this is a fair trade, but IMO Betterall will want more in return than what appears to be his fair value. With that in mind, I believe there were discussions with Tampa but Betterall wanted more than BriseBois was will to give up.

Finally, one might say Miller and Callahan are a near wash. Callahan being a pure cap dump and Miller certainly has value he but he is over paid for only 36 goals over the past 157 games (Berglund was paid $1,000,000 less, scored 14 more goals over a similar number of games and HE was called a cap dump when traded to Buffalo). TBH I just do not know how to evaluate this trade. Let's just presume one would need to include at least a 2nd for a team to take on Callahan's salary and Miller is worth a bit more than a 2nd (if 50% of his salary was retained maybe a 1st) so it may take Miller to get another team to take on Callahan. That clears over $10,000,000 of cap space for Tampa and it may be viable option. I really want to hear your comments.