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Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen Deserves, But Will Not Get, A Long-Term Contract

By Richard Spalding

Dec 17, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) skates with the puck while being defended by Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell (67) during the first period at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) skates with the puck while being defended by Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell (67) during the first period at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Buffalo Sabres will undoubtedly sign their best blueliner – but will they give him what he deserves?

The 2013 NHL Entry Draft is going to go down in Buffalo Sabres history as the event that officially put the team on the path to get back into the playoffs.

Sure, the Sabres drafted Sam Reinhart in 2014 and Jack Eichel in 2015, and the future of the Sabres will depend on whether these two forwards can become the next Getzlaf and Perry, Toews and Kane, Benn and Seguin, etc. of the NHL.

But as I demonstrated yesterday in my piece about whether Evander Kane should be used to bring a top-4 defenseman into the 716, the Buffalo Sabres are not going to make it very far in the playoffs, if they make it all, without at least two of the league’s 50-best defensemen skating at the blueline.

As it turns out, the Sabres drafted one of the league’s top 25 blueliners back in 2013 when they used the 8th pick in the draft on Rasmus Ristolainen.  When the Sabres make the playoffs, then, remember that it was Risto’s being drafted that amounted to the first baby step in the right direction.

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Now that Ristolainen is set to become an RFA on July 1, it is worth asking, does Risto deserve a long-term contract?   The answer is “Yes, he does – but no, he will not get one.”

Ristolainen is proving to be the anti-Tyler Myers when it comes to his development with the Buffalo Sabres.  Myers, as we all know, came out of the gates strong, putting up 48 points in 82 games during his rookie campaign, winning the Calder Trophy for his efforts.  After that . . . well, let’s just say that he never came near to putting up those types of numbers again.   His sophomore season still remains the second-best season of his career, as he scored 37 points and played 80 games.  He has not played a full season or topped 30 points since.

Then we have Risto, who came out of the gates slowly, scoring a grand total of 4 points in 34 games during his rookie season (although he did manage to score 20 points in that same number of games with the Rochester Americans).  The next season saw him play 78 games and improve his scoring to 20 points, which brings us to this season, his best yet.  Ristolainen played in all 82 games on the 2015-16 Buffalo Sabres schedule, doubled his previous season’s scoring with 41 points, led the Sabres in average time on ice with 25:17, had the fifth-most hits on the team, and actually led all Sabres players with 17 power play assists.  (He also added four power play goals, giving him 21 points with the man advantage on the season.)

To say Ristolainen was Buffalo’s best blueliner is too obvious; he was one of Buffalo’s 2-3 best overall players, and is good enough to be a top-4 defenseman on pretty much any team in the NHL.  Knowing that every legitimate Stanley Cup contender has at least two top 50 defensemen in the NHL, if not more, it is not hyperbole to say that Rasmus Ristolainen is truly the cornerstone upon which the championship hopes of the Buffalo Sabres are built.

The question, then, is not whether Risto is worth a long-term contract – he’s worth every cent.   There was a great post written by my friend Griffin Foster over at FanSided’s Pucks of a Feather, the site I wrote for during last year’s playoffs, that broke down the Anaheim Ducks’ young stud of a defenseman, Hampus Lindholm.  Griff put a lot of legwork into that piece in order to show that Lindholm is worth a long-term contract of around $5.5 million per season.    There is no doubt in my mind that Lindholm is worth a big raise this summer, but that’s not the point.  The point is, if you compare what Ristolainen did with a lesser team this season to what Lindholm did with the Ducks, it becomes pretty obvious that Ristolainen is deserving of the same type of money that the more-heralded Lindholm will probably be given.

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Need proof?  Head over to dobberhockey.com and use their Compare-a-Player tool using Lindholm and Ristolainen – I did, and here’s the link! Risto’s third-year effort is better than Lindholm’s third-year effort in pretty much every conceivable way.  Do another comparison between Risto and Seth Jones, who was drafted four spots higher than Ristolainen in 2013, and you’ll see the same kind of results.  

In 2012 the Anaheim Ducks gave Cam Fowler a five-year contract worth $4,000,000 and he has not scored 40 points since his rookie season.  Fowler’s a solid d-man (I’ve only written about why I would like to see the Buffalo Sabres get him like five times this season!), but Rasmus Ristolainen has arguably eclipsed him, and his game is still growing.  When the Sabres finally sit down and attempt to negotiate Risto’s contract, don’t be surprised if Ristolainen’s camp asks for a four- or five-year deal worth up of $4 mil per year.   Don’t worry, he’s worth it – but with the ghost of Tyler Myers still haunting the hallways of First Niagara, and with Risto only having played at an elite level for one season, I would expect the Sabres to offer him a bridge-deal with the hopes that he can spend the next two season improving on what was already an impressive performance.

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