Agreed 100%

I was one of those people and will happily admit he has played better.

He still is not a top pairing defenseman and if someone is willing to overvalue him in a trade I am happy to listen and would hope botterill would be too.

Not a Buffalo fan in the slightest but I approve this message.

The overly analytic community specifically went overboard with how bad they said he was.

The term "Top pairing dman" at this point has become completely subjective...... but regardless of where you fall on that terminology, who cares if he isn't a "top pairing dman"? Can he not be a good top 4 playing on the top pair?

How many teams would give their left nut for a player like that right now?

I haven't checked yet, but did hell freeze over while I was asleep?

He hasn't been playing extremely well. He's just been average.

I would say he has been a little bit better than average. the bonehead plays are still there, just not as often.

Not sure I get the sarcasm?

An active non Buffalo fan on here not following the common narrative on risto

Oh gotcha lol.

If Karlsson, Ceci, and Risto all put up positive +/- this year, everyone's going to say they all totally got better.

But maybe they're just being coached to take fewer risks and deployed in different situations.

It's fair to say none are as bad defensively as their plus/minus from those years indicates, but it's equally fair to say none is as amazing offensively as their points from all those extra minutes and unreasonable rushes might indicate.

The value of any of the three is confusing and so it's been a good topic of debate all over this board for years. How do you balance the low with the high. Risto, I think, is better than Ceci, but worse than Karlsson. So that's still a huge range for a trade value, but it starts the conversation on logical footing, at least.

Its a nice surprise. To be fair, i believe the only reason he is still here is because 30 other gms didnt see it coming either, because whether he was "actively being shopped" or "made available", botterill acquired 3 other rhd in the last year, most likely because he thought he could fill some major holes by trading him. I suspect that for any tire kicking that may have been done, no other gm was offering anything resembling a major hole filler. We have 4 competent rhd on the roster (5 if you wanna count bogosian), i think one is getting moved, and the one that gets moved will be the one that makes the most sense.

Really no interest in Bogo back in the Winnipeg/Thrashers org. I’d like Chevy to roll what we have and what happens happens. Kind of like a science experiment.

I have said many times that let's look at Risto with a good coach and reduce his time, and he may be better, while this is happening. There was no point in trading Risto just for the sake of trading.