Quoting: HikinenNisti
Ristolainen is bad defensively and we need a defensive Dman.
I think he has room to grow, and hes been asked to do too much in a bad system in BUF.
He can play 20+ minutes a night, has some offensive flair, and hits. He is not the crease clearer, reliable vet we need, but hes cheap in trade and hopefully we can address his weaknesses in defense, while bringing in crease clearer Oleksiak and allow Cam York to pick up some of the puck rushing slack. (ideally, we can fix Myers and address his defense as well).
Our team can score and is deep at forward, but lacks some speed and grit. The youngsters collectivekly regressed (notably Sanheim, Myers and Hart, but also Patrick, Lindblom, and Provorov), but ultimately the team finished with a winning record and gave up the most goals. Ultimately its giving the youth and coaches another chance to stop the regression.
Trying to address team speed and grit: Frost, Foerster, York, Marner bring speed, Allison, Oleksiak, Risto bring hitting and grit.
Dumba or UFA David Savard could also be a good fit here, but if we can stop the regression from Sanheim and Myers, you're looking at a defensive collective, with Provorov not being responsible for being the number 1 on defense and offense.