Sabres with an easy pass

Buffalo no deal. Ristolainen is young and still imporving and I like the line of Dahlin and Ristolainen. They are getting back an out of his prime David Savard and 2 thirds and Ristolainen is worth at least a second.

Risto is playing extremely well for us. No doubt that's why you traded for him and put him on your top pair. However, that is a super weak offer for a top pairing defenseman. He isn't going anywhere but the ask would be a top 6 forward. From Columbus either Bjorkstrand or Atkinson.



Ristolainen is not playing with Dahlin, he's playing with McCabe. Risto is worth more than a second

pump the breaks here. Risto isn't a top pair D, he has been brutal for years. No idea why this guy has him on the top pair over Seth freaking Jones. Maybe he's playing well this year (I have no idea I haven't followed it) but I'm gonna go with the larger sample size and say he should barely be in the top 4 on a decent defence.

Should we pay attention to Ristolainens 7 good games, or 490+ mediocre/bad games?

hmmmm

Nah, Buffalo decline

Depends on what you think he actually is. Obviously he’s not a game changer. But is he a really good complimentary player? When the team is finally good, and he feels he doesn’t have to go above his level for the team to win, perhaps he actually does play better. I really don’t know, but this is one theory that’s been thought about.

go figure, he plays less and the team plays better. hmmm...

also, again, 7 games vs 7 years.

Yeah I understand. Was more just pointing out that he’s played on dumpster fires for the better part of good career. First decent team he’s played on, and also not being over used and he looks good. We’ll see if he keeps it up, as a Sabres fan I hope so

He was a big part in those teams being dumpster fires.

i am happy he is not playing horribly. i am a sabres fan, but lets not pretend like hes some great player.

Sure, I just wonder if he was trying to do too much Is all. That was always talked about that he needs to not be getting 25/26 min a game. I don’t think anybody is claiming a top ten pick. He seems to finally putting all the god given ability to actual use this year, and coincidentally the team as a whole is light years better then any team he’s been on. Is there a correlation? Perhaps. I don’t know the answer, but hope so.

This team threw Risto into the fire for the first 5 or 6 years of his career. He only started to get more reasonable usage last season.

I'm willing to put the beginning of his career aside when evaluating Risto as a player. He absolutely still has his flaws, and he's definitely not a true #1 defenseman, but I think it's fair to say he's a solid #2/#3 guy.

He 100% is not the negative value cap dump that many on this site claim he is.

I meant I like that line for the future. Not rn. Ristolainen needs to improve on D a bit. And I said AT LEAST A SECOND. I didn't say he is worth a second.

Your argument is moot. We can both agree that Seth Jones is an elitr top pairing D. If he were traded to Colorado. He would be on the 2nd pair because Makar is top pair RHD. Now you are saying that Jones would no longer be considered a top pair defender since he isnt playing on the top pair.... Risto is a top 4 defender. On some bad teams hed be top pair, on deep teams hed be a 2nd or 3rd pair guy. Regardless, he is a top 4 D