The kids are alright in Sabreland

It's taken a few weeks, but the Buffalo Sabres have gotten rid of the stench left by former head coach Ralph Krueger. The defensive, systemic load that Krueger shoveled for the entirety of his 97 games as Buffalo's bench boss has been sent to the incinerator of extreme ineptitude and has been replaced by a refreshing dose of speed and puck control with an emphasis on driving play and creating offense. 

And Sabreland couldn't be happier.

Things you can't do against Boston (or any other top team for that matter)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-30-2019


So your the Buffalo Sabres heading into the second game of a home-and-home against a division rival while being outscored 22-10 on a very treacherous 1-4-1 slide with a weak forward group even weaker due to injury. The team you're playing is the Boston Bruins, who sit third in the NHL, have the NHL's best goal differential (+33,) the league's second best goals-against average (2.42,) are seventh in goals/game (3.40,) and have the third best powerplay (26.7%) and the third-best penalty kill (84.7%.) The keys to victory revolve around playing your game while limiting mistakes and keeping it close in a place where the home team has lost only once all season. 

Such was the task at hand for the Sabres last night and props to them for playing their game. Buffalo took it to Boston much of the night but the Bruins did what most top teams do while facing weaker opponents--take advantage of miscues.

Life without Jack Eichel proved pretty ugly for the Sabres last night

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-20-2019 I had an interesting little twitter exchange with a Leafs fan the other day after the Buffalo Sabres lost 5-3 at Toronto. It started with this tweet from Steve Kournianos of The Draft Analysis: "All I heard on the radio today was how Jack Eichel's better than Auston Matthews and he (Matthews) doesn't dominate games etc. Two goals against a surging division rival (Buffalo) and (now) one point out of 2nd place. Huge win. Huge Performance. You should try to give the kid some credit every now and again."

Quick notes in light of the Sabres 7-1 win over New Jersey

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-3-2019


Notes after Buffalo's 7-1 win last night:

--Jack Eichel remains in beast-mode as he extended his point-streak to 10 games just 2:46 into the game as he snuck one through while camping on Louis Domingue's doorstep. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen pinched in along the boards and sent a quick pass to Eichel who was left all alone in the crease. It was Eichel's ninth goal and 19th point during the streak which is just one shy of his career long from February 14-March 7, 2017. During that run Eichel potted five goals and 11 assists.

--Ristolainen has been playing very well lately and he extended his point-streak to three games with that assist. For years coaches have been saying that they'd like to cut down on Ristolainen's minutes and Sabres bench-boss Ralph Krueger finally began doing so. From 2015-16 up until the start of this season, "The Angry Finn" averaged 25:30 of ice-time/game which was sixth in the NHL during that span. Krueger began cutting into that this season with Ristolainen getting 23:54 ATOI (22nd in the NHL) up until a November 24 game in Florida where he, out of necessity, used 11 forwards and seven defenseman in a 5-2 win against the Panthers. Krueger hasn't deviated from that set-up since and with seven defensemen rotating in, Ristolainen's average time-on ice is 19:24/game which is less than Eichel (21:25) and Sam Reinhart (20:04) on the Sabres. In those six games the Sabres are 3-1-2 and Ristolainen's plus-5 rating is tied for third on the team behind Eichel (plus-9) and Jimmy Vesey (plus-7.)

Brandon Montour injury clouds Sabres blueline, highlights Rasmus Ristolainen trade rumors

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-19-2019

The Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Brandon Montour has a hand injury, the severity of which has not been revealed. The Sabres tweeted today that Montour "will miss the rest of the preseason due to a hand injury" and that they'll update his status "at the conclusion of training camp."

So much for the right-handed, log-jam on defense.

Buffalo general manager Jason Botterill acquired the 24 yr. old Montour from the Anaheim Ducks on February 25 for d-prospect Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st-overall) and a 2019 first round pick (LW, Brayden Tracey, 29th.) Montour was the first of three right-handed d-men acquired by Botterill the past seven months as he also acquired Colin Miller from the Vegas Golden Knights on June 28 and Henri Jokiharju from the Chicago Blackhawks on July 9.

When added to roster players Zach Bogosian and Casey Nelson, those acquisitions loaded up the right side and really fueled speculation that disgruntled defenseman, Rasmus Ristolainen, a righty himself, was on the move. The Sabres have been adamant since that they were not shopping the 24 yr. old Ristolainen but there was said to be a lot of smoke surrounding his name with the Winnipeg Jets seemingly as the most likely match in a trade. Deductive reasoning has the Sherlock Holmes' of the internet hockey world pairing the Sabres and Jets in a two-plus-two scenario beginning with the Jacob Trouba saga with the plot thickening even more the past couple of weeks. 

Building the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster--RHD, Rasmus Ristolainen

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-3-2019


In this series we build the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster one by one leading up to the season opener on October 3.

RHD--Rasmus Ristolainen
24 yrs. old
6'4" 215 lbs.
2013, 8th-overall

Career Stats: 424 games | 36 goals | 158 assists | 194 points | -143

Rasmus Ristolainen is easily the most polarizing on-ice player to skate for the Buffalo Sabres since goalie Ryan Miller. The 24 yr. old defenseman has been the workhorse for a team that has been historically bad not only in the National Hockey League, but throughout all of the four major North American Sports. With futility oozing into every crevice of Sabreland, Buffalo's league-long, eight-year playoff drought, which includes three last place finishes, brings the blame-game to unprecedented levels and seems to have touched every player at some level or another. Jack Eichel isn't Connor McDavid. Sam Reinhart stinks and was drafted too high. Ryan O'Reilly is over-rated. Robin Lehner was a flake. Evander Kane wasn't very good on the ice and even worse off it. Zemgus Girgensons should be shipped to Siberia, Jeff Skinner is one-dimensional and now severely overpaid, etc, etc., etc.

And so it goes.

Jets with small-market blues? Can you handle another year of Risto?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-18-2019


The Winnipeg Jets are having a devil of a time right now as they're trying to extend two very important restricted free agents. Wingers Kyle Connor and Patrick Laine are finished with their entry-level deals and their production has placed them in the upper-levels of the salary structure. The 22 yr. old Connor is a speedy, versatile, all-around forward who's averaged 0.78 pts/game over his first two NHL seasons while increasing his production on a year over year. His 65 goals over that span is second only to Laine who scored 74 goals in the last two seasons. Laine took the league by storm as an 18 yr. old in 2016-17 scoring 36 goals in his rookie year finishing second to phenom Auston Matthews in the Calder Trophy running that year.

With the way salaries have escalated, both players are due for a significant increase and re-signing both would take up most, if not all, of the $17.5 million (according to CapFriendly) the Jets have in cap-space.

There's a huge log-jam right now in the RFA market as an impressive group of young players coming off of their ELC are waiting for someone to set the market. That someone might very well be Toronto's Mitch Marner, who some believe will command an eight-figure salary on his new deal.

The Rasmus Ristolainen saga is front and center once again

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-11-2019

"I have seen so much sh**."

Such were the translated words of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen as he talked with a Finnish TV station back in mid-January after a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. With that loss, the Sabres dropped to 24-18-6 in a season where they started out great, floundered a bit then plummeted to a 26th place finish in the NHL. It was the eighth consecutive season Buffalo missed the playoffs, the sixth time with Ristolainen on the team. 

Seven months later, the 24 yr. old Turku, Finland native would be back in front of Finnish MTV Sports expressing more frustration. "I have not been able to help the team win," he said via Google translation, "Recent seasons have been tough and I haven't been able to enjoy hockey."

Where have we heard that before?

A mid-July look at the Buffalo Sabres NHL depth-chart on defense

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-19-2019


Please note the hyphenated word, "mid-July" as things could change with training camp still two months away. It also should be noted that the Buffalo Sabres traded for Jeff Skinner (CAR) on August 2 which goes to show that trades can happen at any time.

Buffalo's roster for 2019-20 will (must) change. As we saunter through the dog days of summer the Sabres have a full roster if you include the probable signings of three restricted free agents and two defensemen, Zach Bogosian and Lawrence Pilut, eventually coming back from off-season surgery. Bogosian is expected to be back for the start of the season while Pilut will take a little longer and will probably be spending time in Rochester before trekking into his sophomore campaign.

A crowded Sabres d-corps has eight NHL players already signed, another in Jake McCabe who's unsigned and filed for arbitration, and two more in Pilut and recently acquired Henri Jokiharju (CHI,) who played a significant time in the NHL last season. It's a good situation to be in as it's never a bad idea to have an overabundance of NHL-caliber defensemen but it will also force Buffalo to make some decisions.

For the sake of the following exercise we're going to move ahead under the premise that McCabe will re-sign with Buffalo.

Of the trade for Colin Miller, plus who to watch 3-on-3 this morning

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-29-2019


Much to the relief of many in Sabreland, Buffalo general manager Jason Botterill made a move yesterday when he acquired right-handed defenseman Colin Miller from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2021 second round pick (acquired from St. Louis and a 2022 fifth rounder. The well-traveled Miller was drafted in the fifth round (151st-overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings and won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs in 2015 before being traded to the Boston Bruins that off-season. Miller played two seasons in the Bruins organization and was left exposed in the 2017 expansion draft where Vegas picked him up.

The Golden Knights took the league by storm becoming the first team in league history to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season and they came to within an overtime goal in a controversial Game-7 to advancing in this year's playoffs. The by-product of this immediate success, as well as smart, yet expensive, front office moves, has been cap-issues this off season and Vegas has been forced to makes some tough decisions. The cap itself came in a bit lower than anticipated and the Golden Knights have been over it all off season. They traded Erik Haula and his $2.75 million hit earlier in the week and moved Miller's $3.875 million AAV to Buffalo yet are still about $900K over the cap with five roster spots to fill, according to CapFriendly.

Miller's acquisition adds more depth to the Sabres top-six on defense. Last season Vegas head coach Gerrard Gallant had him on the top-paring while Nate Schmidt was serving a 20-game suspension for violating the league's PED policy and was eventually dropped down the depth chart. Miller also served some time in Gallant's doghouse including a press box stint for Game-1 of the San Jose Sharks series but it looks as if he'll be in at least a solid 4/5 role for Buffalo dependent upon how these next few months shake out.

Draft weekend is a good time for trades, here's a look at some names out there

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-20-2019

Today marks the lead-in day to the NHL Draft as general managers meet to discuss various league issues before hitting the stage in what might be the second-most popular draft amongst the big-four major North American pro sports. The season finished, the NHL Awards ceremony was last night and scouting departments are putting the final touches on their list and all that's left to do is hit the floor and make your selections.

Pending, of course, whatever deals might be made between teams.

GM's burn up the phone lines leading up to this week and today in Vancouver they'll all have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with parties of interest regarding possible deals. Sure, they'll discuss issues like video review, etc. but one area of focus involves deals discussed over the phone, or even those that begin this day. The Buffalo Sabres have been in the rumor mill on many fronts for a while now and it seems as if they'll be active during a potentially busy trade weekend. 

We've all heard the rumors and all have our opinions on what the Sabres should or should not do and we've all heard from Buffalo GM Jason Botterill that he's looking to add talent to the team. Just what that talent will look like and the cost of attaining that is still up in the air, but it's safe to say that we'll here something involving the Sabres in the next two or three days. It might be a deal that involves moving up or down in the draft or it might be some kind of blockbuster, but whatever the deal may be it will illicit strong opinions from a fan-base dying for a winner.

Having said that, fans can get over-emotional as their impatience rises to high levels. Just because the fan in all of us wants something now doesn't necessarily mean it will happen no matter how well it might be backed up by stats, sound capology or opinion. Botterill is the GM of the Buffalo Sabres and it's his responsibility to structure the organization as he sees fit. What he's looking at is an obviously flawed team, with a new head coach that will be playing in a tough division and an even tougher conference. Botterill is under some pressure to do something, but the general consensus is that the high-point of prognostications would center on just making the playoffs. There is no need for the Sabres to mortgage the future for a rental-type piece at a high cost.

What we're in the middle of is...

The Process.

Jets Jacob Trouba rumors surfacing again and Buffalo might have what it takes

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-29-2019


Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey brought up a name out of Winnipeg that been in the rumor mill a lot--defenseman Jacob Trouba.

Richardson points to a piece by Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press who gives us 10 morsels to chew on beginning with Trouba. "Look, it's clear [Trouba] doesn't want to be here long-term," wrote McIntyre," which is his right, but the Jets cant' afford to allow him to walk for nothing as an unrestricted free agent next summer."

That's a tough situation to be in for the Jets although Trouba will most definitely bring in a pretty good haul. The centerpiece of that haul might be determined by which direction Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff wants his team to go. Hockeybuzz.com Jets blogger Peter Tessier asked that question in a recent piece. "The first thing to consider is understanding what kind of team the GM is tiring to build," wrote Tessier. "Is it a fast attacking team or a highly skilled one playing a complete game at each end of the ice? Is it something else, one that will grind down the opposition via size and puck control?"  

Winnipeg's Cup-window took a hit with their early playoff exit at the hands of the St. Louis Blues this month and last season they were upset by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals. They head into next season with a projected $55.6 million on the books right now, a lot of holes to fill and two restricted free agents in Patrick Laine and Kyle Connor who are going to eat up a big chunk of their projected cap space (perhaps as much as $17 million, according to Tessier.)

Impressions of, and questions concerning--D, Rasmus Ristolainen

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-17-2019


Defenseman--Rasmus Ristolainen DOB: October 27, 1994 (Age, 24)
Draft: 2013, 1st round (8th-overall)
How acquired: Drafted by Buffalo
Last contract signed: October 11, 2016, 6yr./$32.4 million
Final year of contract: 2021-22

2018-19- Stats:  78 games | 5 goals | 38 assists | 43 points | -41 |  24:38 ATOI  
Buffalo Career Stats:  424 games | 36 goals | 158 assists | 198 points | 24:24 ATOI


What we wrote preseason:  Ristolainen (selected eighth overall, 2013) is entering the prime of his career and has played a lot of hard minutes along the way. Over the past three seasons Ristolainen has averaged 26:04 ranking him fourth in the league behind Erik Karlsson (Ott,) Ryan Suter (MIN) and Drew Doughty (LAK.) That much ice-time is too much ice-time for him and it affected his overall game but neither coach had much of a choice considering the defense they had to work with. 

As Ristolainen struggled, so came a lot of questions, especially because last season, for the first time in his career, he had more offensive zone starts (53%) than d-zone. By Christmas Ristolainen had yet to register a goal, had only nine assists and was a minus-nine. He looked out of touch on many occasions, had puck control problems and defensive lapses and there were some in the media proposing that he wasn't playing the system.

Having said all that, the addition of Rasmus Dahlin on the back end changes a lot of things for the team and for Ristolainen. The Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup teams were anchored by a d-tandem of two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith and his sidekick Brent Seabrook and it's not too far-fetched to think that with less of a role, Ristolainen could be Buffalo's version of Seabrook to Dahlin's Keith. 


What we wrote mid-season:  The 24 yr. old "Angry Finn" struggled to start the season and his negative plus/minus rating was amongst the worst on the team. But something happened along the way and we're starting to see the emergence of the player he was drafted for. "Risto" could always skate well for a player of his size and is at his best when he joins the rush and works the offensive zone. He's been showing a very high confidence-level in those abilities with the way he's taking control and he's also been adding to those positive traits by playing with a load of sandpaper while leading the team with 116 hits, nearly double the next player on the Sabres. Although he may never be Bill Hajt from a defensive standpoint, having a 6'4" 215 lb. d-man heading up ice with a head of steam who possesses enough skill to both set up and finish makes for an intriguing weapon on the Sabres blueline. Ristolainen leads Sabres defensemen in all offensive categories with four goals and 20 assists while his 24 points is tied for 13th in the NHL amongst defensemen. His average time on ice of 25:42 is once again top-five in the league.


Impressions on his play this year: Ristolainen has always logged first-pairing, work-horse minutes for the Sabres and this year was no different. Over the past four seasons both coaches, Dan Bylsma and Phil Housley, said they wanted to pare back his minutes but neither really did, or felt they could until the second half of this season when Housley reigned them in. Ristolainen went from 25:42 ATOI pre-Christmas break and finished the season at 24:38, his lowest since his rookie campaign.

Unfortunately for the big Finn, despite putting up solid offensive numbers from the back-end, the number that sticks out, and has stuck out throughout his career thus far, is his plus/minus which was a league-worst minus-41. It's a number that leaves even non-plus/minus believers aghast. However, in an effort to frame said number a little better, perhaps we might want to take into consideration that Ristolainen was on the ice for a total of 16 short-handed/empty net goals against which count against the plus/minus rating. Take it for what it is but those are mostly team breakdowns and/or desperation situations.

Having said that, Ristolainen has been in a major cluster-fart in Buffalo ever since he turned pro and it looks as if it's wearing on him. He's trained his body for the rigors of the NHL but being a part of losing teams, including two last place teams over the past five seasons, would be a mental strain on anyone, especially the team leader in minutes. As a player, we've seen glimpses of greatness in his offensive game, like him schooling San Jose's Brent Burns this year, but not enough of them over the course of his career. We've also seen him use his size when clearing the crease and some sandpaper as well, but not enough of it. His mental lapses in the d-zone are well documented but you can also say, especially the last two seasons, that the defense has been a disaster.

It wouldn't be surprising to see Ristolainen and the team part ways via a trade this off season in a move that might benefit him more than the team. He's got a lot to offer but his role and the toll playing for the Sabres has taken no him screams "fresh start."


Questions moving forward:  Has he played his last season in Buffalo? What's his value on the trade market? If he comes back, can a new head coach place him in a position to succeed? Can he ever succeed in Buffalo? Is Tampa Bay, against whom he played some of his best hockey, a potential landing spot for him? If so, how much do they like him and feel they need him? How many other teams might be interested in his services?

Buffalo Sabres 2018-19 Individual Stats Leaders--February

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-28-2019


The Sabres had a 13-game month of February where they had an opportunity to stay in the playoff picture with even a decent month. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way as their four wins (4-7-2) would attest to and the underlying individual numbers certainly back that up.

For the most part individual plus/minus ratings are detested in the analytics community as many factors might be involved in the rating such as a player change seconds before a goal with neither player having anything to do with the goal being scored. However, there are occasions when it becomes noteworthy, most notably when those using that stat feel the need to highlight an individual players negative contribution to the team. The most familiar name in that realm is defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.

Ristolainen has been a negative player his entire six-year NHL career with his best season in that department being a minus-9. His minus-130 overall is amongst some of the worst since the NHL started tracking the stat in 1967-68. Their are mitigating factors in the stat and in Ristolainen's case the Buffalo's two tank years and six years of overall team instability haven't helped matters. Regardless of that as of today he has a league worst minus-28 rating that was doubled by a minus-14 month of February.

Plenty of hockey to watch in Sabreland: USA vs. FIN; Buffalo @ Boston

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-5-2019


If you're Buffalo GM Jason Botterill it's hard not to think there are some good things happening in the Sabres organization. Botterill took over as general manager in 2017 after leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins organization with their team deep into the playoffs on their Stanley Cup run. The rookie GM had a lot on his plate which included the upcoming Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft, the NHL Draft and the start of free agency. All of that would take place in a time-frame of less than two weeks.

In less than two years Botterill transitioned his Sabres team away from the previous GM and managed to calm a locker room, create cap-space and get that team moving towards a more modern version of the way the NHL game is played today. After a last place finish in 2017-18 his NHL team is presently in a playoff spot and has a very bright future ahead.

Botterill also placed a supreme focus last season on picking his AHL affiliate up off the mat. The collateral damage the Rochester Americans felt as the Sabres tanked and tried to rebuild was widespread and deep leaving the Amerks bereft of any semblance of quality talent with finishes near the bottom of the league for  three consecutive seasons prior to Botterill coming aboard. Last season they made the playoffs and this year they spent most of the season at the top of their division.

Things were so bad in the organization that the Buffalo's ECHL affiliate, the Elmira Jackals, struggled near the bottom of the league for those three seasons and eventually ceased operations in 2017.

Getting a good feel for the Sabres after last night

Published by hockeybuzz, 12-16-2018


That this is Jack Eichel's team is not to be debated and as captain of the Sabres he's proving it. Eichel always had the skill and skating and shot...and drive to win and that beet-red, post-game face after leaving it all on the ice. We seen glimpses of that but lately those of us in Sabreland, as well as the rest of the NHL and national media outlets like ESPN, are just starting to realize what we have in No. 9.

Last night was a litmus test for the Sabres both individually and as a team and we could see how they matched up against an Eastern conference power. Despite playing a Washington team that was travelling back home for the second game of a back-to-back, the Capitals are still the defending Stanley Cup champions, still have the greatest goal-scorer of his generation in Alex Ovechkin and are still loaded for bear. Plus they seem to be extremely motivated as of late.

Eichel was up to the task last night scoring two goals on three shots while doing everything he could to try and lead his team to a win which included this beauty of a goal showing off his extreme skating ability, his deft stickwork and wicked shot:



(via NHL.com)


"Coming soon to a theater near you," indeed, Mr. Jeanerette, or for now, to the ESPN top-10 highlights this morning.

Notes and thoughts after the Sabres 4-3 OT win over Los Angeles

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-12-2018

This is how we do it

The Sabres five-game losing streak is over. Or if you may, their winless streak is over as Buffalo managed a loser-point in two of those losses. Getting back in the win column was huge for the team especially while playing the type of up-tempo, Corsi-heavy game head coach Phil Housley prefers. Housley's charges got up and down the ice and pumped a total of 47 shots on goal against Los Angeles to the Kings' 27 shots. Overall the Sabres pumped 74 shots at Kings rookie goaltender Calvin Petersen while Los Angeles managed a total of 48 against Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark.

A rather cold Sabres powerplay also came through for them as they went 2 for 8 in the game on a total of 11:33 seconds of powerplay time. Having the Rasmi--Rasmus Ristolainen and Rasmus Dahlin--at the point really helped as Ristolainen was at the top of a 1-3-1 set-up with Jack Eichel on the left half-wall and Dahlin on the right. Eichel and Dahlin peppered the Kings with shots, which was a good sign even if it was against the league's 29th-ranked penalty kill, with Eichel finally breaking through. Buffalo's other powerplay goal came in overtime as Jeff Skinner poked home a puck in the crease for his 21st goal of the season.

Ristolainen picked up the primary assist on both of those goals.

Skinner w/the OT winner as (now) NHL-leading Sabres win-streak hits 10

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-28-2018


Just how much fun are the Buffalo Sabres having right now? Maybe this goal by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is a good indication.





And just how into it are the fans? Listen to the roar as Buffalo's Jeff Skinner scores the game-winner in overtime of the 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.





Ten games, 10 wins, three in regulation, four in overtime, three in the shootout and a Buffalo Sabres team that once again sits atop the NHL standings.

Building the 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres roster--RHD, Rasmus Ristolainen

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-30-2018


Rasmus Ristolainen
23 yrs. old
6'4" 218 lbs.
2013, 8th-overall


Career Stats:  346 games |  31 goals |  120 assists | 151 points | -102



It's hard to believe that Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is 23 yrs. old and entering his fifth full NHL season. Wasn't it just yesterday that the Sabres selected him, and fellow "Twin Tower" Nikita Zadorov in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft? Yes it does feel that way but alas, Ristolainen (selected eighth overall) is entering the prime of his career and has played a lot of hard minutes along the way.

After his first full season in Buffalo where he logged just over 20 minutes of ice-time per game, Ristolainen cracked the NHL's top-10 in ATOI with 25:17 in 2015-16 under Dan Bylsma and has seen his ice-time ramp up even more since. Despite both Bylsma and his replacement, Phil Housley, saying that they'd like to lower his minutes and have him at around 22 minutes/game, Ristolainen logged 26:28 minutes (fifth in the league) in Bylsma's final season as head coach while setting a career high with 26:10 ATOI (fourth) last season under Housley. Over the past three seasons Ristolainen has averaged 26:04 ranking him fourth in the league behind Erik Karlsson (Ott,) Ryan Suter (MIN) and Drew Doughty (LAK.)

That much ice-time is too much ice-time for him and it affected his overall game but neither coach had much of a choice considering the defense they had to work with. Thoughts of Ristolainen early in his career had him in the top-pairing on most teams in the league. After nearly 350 NHL games Ristolainen looks to be in the 2/3 range moving forward which isn't a bad thing for the Sabres as he's signed to a reasonable $5.4 million cap-hit over the next four seasons.

In defense of the Turku, Finland native, not a lot can be said for the d-partners Ristolainen has had over the years, especially early on when he saw plenty of time with Josh Gorges. Last year, however, was supposed to be different with the addition of Marco Scandella. Adding Scandella to the top-pairing turned out to be a reach and although he was a definitive upgrade over any d-man Ristolainen played with, the duo, like the rest of the team, struggled mightily.

As Ristolainen struggled, so came a lot of questions, especially because last season, for the first time in his career, he had more offensive zone starts (53%) than d-zone. By Christmas Ristolainen had yet to register a goal, had only nine assists and was a minus-nine. He looked out of touch on many occasions, had puck control problems and defensive lapses and there were some in the media proposing that he wasn't playing the system. Ristolainen was on the ice for five shorthanded goals against and 17 empty net goals against which reeked havoc on a plus/minus rating that was suffering to begin with. His -102 rating since 2013-14 is the worst in the league by eight points over Carolina's Justin Falk and is at the opposite end of the spectrum to league leader Brad Marchand who clocks in at a +105.

Having said all that, the addition of Rasmus Dahlin on the back end changes a lot of things for the team and for Ristolainen. Dahlin is an elite-skater and puck-mover who will eventually take over the No. 1 role on the team and he's expected to be one of the best defensemen in the league. If Housley likes the two Rasmuses together up top, it could send Ristolainen's numbers surging towards the positive and even if Dahlin plays the right side on the top pairing Ristolainen will be still be slotted in nicely as a very strong No. 3 on the team.

The Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup teams were anchored by a d-tandem of two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith and his sidekick Brent Seabrook and it's not too far-fetched to think that with less of a role, Ristolainen could be Buffalo's version of Seabrook to Dahlin's Keith.

That's a good thing and we will probably be seeing "The Rasmi" as Buffalo's top pairing sometime early in the season. However, it probably won't happen right off the bat as it's easy to see last year's tandem of Scandella and Ristolainen begin the year as Buffalo's top defensive pairing.


Building the 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres roster:

LW, Conor Sheary / C, Jack Eichel / RW, Sam Reinhart


LHD, Marco Scandella / RHD, Rasmus Ristolainen

Does Rasmus Dahlin change the Sabres' off-season equation?

Published by hockeybuzz.com. 5-4-2018


Heading into last week's NHL Draft Lottery, hockey insider Elliotte Friedman had a definitive take on what the last place Buffalo Sabres would be doing this off season. Prior to the pingpong balls falling Buffalo's way, it was expected that second-year GM Jason Botterill would overhaul his roster and here's what Friedman had to say, “I think they’re looking at tearing that team down right to the studs. And you know what? If they get Dahlin that makes it easier for them to do.”

Unlike the previous off season when he overhauled mostly the bottom portion of the lineup to the tune of nine different faces in the opening night lineup, an angry Botterill indicated that a continued overhaul may include some core players. "When you finish where we were," he said to the gathered media at his end of season presser, "you have to look at everything. That means looking at even changing up some of our core players."

Speculation as to who he meant immediately began swirling around Sabreland with those waves rippling through much of the NHL.