Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen Latest Victim Of NHL Ineptitude, Or Bias?
The NHL manages to screw over the Buffalo Sabres on what seems to be a yearly basis, and the 2017 All-Star selections and Norris Trophy discussion are just par for the course.
When is one of the top-5* defensemen in the NHL not a lock to make the All-Star Team, or Norris Trophy consideration?
When he plays for the Buffalo Sabres, of course!
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: Rasmus Ristolainen, the NHL’s 5th-highest scoring* defensemen, was left off of the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Game rosters, and failed to earn even one vote in NHL.com’s Norris trophy tracker . . . and exactly none of you are surprised.
*Montreal’s Shea Weber notched two assists Wednesday evening to move into 5th among the league’s blueliners, one point ahead of Risto – but Risto was in 5th when the All-Star Rosters were announced.
Now, as tempting as it is to go full-blown conspiracy theory here – “The NHL hates the Buffalo Sabres!” – there are some factors at play here that suggest Risto’s All-Star snub is more a result of the NHL being totally clueless, rather than the NHL being biased against the Sabres. For starters, there is the current format of the All-Star game itself: a 3-on-3 tournament format, which limits each of the four teams to a roster comprised of six forwards, three defensemen, and two goaltenders.
Having to pick six defensemen from the entire Eastern Conference would not be so bad . . . except that the NHL further limits which defensemen can be selected by having each division represented in the tournament. So, if the four top-scoring defensemen in the East all play in the Atlantic Division, which is the case this season, one of those blueliners gets snubbed, thanks entirely to the format the NHL has opted to use. And when it came time to decide who among Victor Hedman (2nd among all defensemen) Erik Karlsson (3rd), Risto (5th at time of vote/6th currently) and Shea Weber (6th at time of vote/5th currently) would make the team, the NHL had to sacrifice one quality player. We can quibble that Risto had more points than Weber, but Weber has a higher profile and is enjoying a great year in Montreal, so having Risto lose out to Weber is not terribly upsetting. . .
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. . . until you read the latest results of NHL.com’s Norris Trophy tracker votes, that is. Then you start to get angry and feel like the NHL really doesn’t respect the Buffalo Sabres. Let’s make a long story short: in NHL.com’s second round of voting for who will win the 2017 Norris Trophy, Rasmus Ristolainen received exactly . . . zero votes.
Not one.
How is that even possible?
Here are the results:
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks, 53; Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning, 33; Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens, 27; Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators, 23; Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings, 17; Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild, 15; Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks, 6; Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers, 4; Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets, 2.
Obviously, all of the guys who made this list are solid blueliners who earned these votes – but you want me to seriously believe that NO ONE at NHL.com noticed Risto was a top-10 defensemen in scoring for a Buffalo Sabres team that struggles to score and thought, “Hey, this kid deserves to be mentioned in this discussion?”
Bull****.
This reminds me of Jack Eichel’s exclusion from the Calder Trophy Finalists last season, despite the fact that he was the second-highest scoring rookie for the 2015-16 season. People say, “Well it’s not all about the numbers . . .” and then Dan Rosen goes on to talk mostly about offensive numbers when discussing why Brent Burns earned his first-place vote:
Right – “I don’t like to measure a defenseman totally by offensive numbers, but these are hard to ignore.” Apparently numbers are not hard to ignore if you play blueline in the 716!
Ridiculous.
Next: Tyler Ennis Has One More Shot In Buffalo
I can live with the Buffalo Sabres getting only one player – Kyle Okposo – in the 2017 NHL All-Star game – I truly can. Having to pick between Risto and Weber is a tough one . . . but when you factor in his glaring omission in the Norris Trophy race, you have every right to once again feel insulted as a Buffalo Sabres fan.