Rasmus Ristolainen Proving To Be A Huge Bargain For Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are getting their money’s worth, and then some, from their 22 year-old Finnish blueliner.

There was a huge sigh of relief emanating from the 716 when the Buffalo Sabres signed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to a shiny, new six-year contract on October 11, 2016.

For starters, fans and players alike were thinking playoffs before the 2016-17 season began, and having the team’s best blueliner available when the season started was uplifting (until all the bad luck began, that is!).

Then there was the fact that the Sabres managed to lock Risto in for six years at an affordable price.  Risto is making $5.4 million per season, making him only the 33rd-highest salary among active defensemen, despite the fact that he was actually a top-25 blueliner in 2015-16 from a scoring standpoint.

The early returns on Risto’s new contract, by the way?  Fantastic.

Ristolainen is currently in 10th place in scoring among all NHL defensemen, is tied for 6th among blueliners for assists, and as the Tweet above informs you, he now is tops in the NHL in power play assists.  Courtesy of his assist on Sam Reinhart’s power play goal last evening, Risto now has a six-game points streak, and has 9 points in his last 11 games.   He’s a huge reason the Buffalo Sabres own the league’s 3rd-best power play, and let’s all say it together: he’s only 22.

From a scoring perspective, then, Risto is currently out performing Seth Jones ($5.4 million per year), Drew Doughty ($7 million), Shea Weber ($7,857,143), Kris Letang ($7.25 million), Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($5.5 million) and Ryan Suter ($7,538,462).  Yes, yes and yes: I am fully aware that there is more to being a blueliner than scoring. And no, I’m not sitting here saying that Rasmus Ristolainen is currently better than any of the defensemen that I mentioned.

Just stating facts, folks.  Advanced statistics might hate Risto, but he’s played his entire career on a non-playoff team and put up some damn impressive numbers in spite of that fact.

Next: Re-Questioning Buffalo's Playoff Push

To say that the Buffalo Sabres are getting their money’s worth out of the first year of Rasmus Ristolainen’s contract, then, is a huge understatement.  He is still very much a work in progress in the defensive end, but he will improve.  And who knows?  Some time in his lifetime, the Sabres might bless with him a roster full of forwards who are 100% committed to playing a two-way game – cross your fingers!