A Risto trade that makes sense for all involved

Team: 2019-20 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Nov. 5, 2019

Published: Nov. 5, 2019

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

I am fully aware of all the things Risto does poorly. His 5v5 defence is horrific, his contract is bloated, he can't drive play. These are real flaws, however, he does have one specialty: his PP numbers are legitimately elite. Montreal's powerplay is dead last in the league in 5v4 xGF/60 since the start of last year, and one of the issues is the lack of a natural quarterback for it. Petry's been around average in terms of impact there for the last few years, while Weber's been about 1/2 a standard deviation below. Risto's results, meanwhile, range from 1-2 SDs above average.

There's also something to be said that Risto's 5v5 impact could be improved with sheltering, and I'm not just talking about making his numbers look nicer while he's still dragging play. His offensive impact and shot contribution numbers have historically been around league average for his career. His fatal flaws have been entry denial and zone exits (big flaws for a defenseman, but still). With a team that excels in pinning the opponent in their own end as well as Montreal and VERY sheltered usage (made possible by the strong RD tandem ahead of him), those weaknesses could be covered and Risto could probably make league-average third-pair impact. Granted, that's not much, but for the right price, a 3RD/PP1 guy might be exactly what Montreal needs right now.

Buffalo does this deal because Risto's spot on PP1 will probably be lost to Dahlin as the latter matures, and they get a couple picks and save a little money in the process.

Alzner's incentive is that the crappier Buffalo d corps might net him another shot in the NHL, and Risto wins here because the sheltering will make him look a lot better and set him up well for contract number 3.