Before the Winter Olympics took place, Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen wasn’t thought to be an important piece of Team Finland’s hopes in terms of competing for a gold medal or even ending up in the medal round. The idea was that he’d have some time to play, look decent at best and hopefully avoid some freak injury and return to Philadelphia in one piece. That was the goal. Anything else would be considered gravy.
Well, Flyers general manager Danny Briere might be smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary now after Ristolainen’s performance throughout the competition. In the bronze medal game Saturday against Slovakia, Team Finland dominated, taking home third place honors with a convincing 6-1 rout over their opponents. Perhaps even more impressive was just how strong Ristolainen looked playing in his country’s colors. In six games, Ristolainen knocked some players on their backsides, held his own against Tom Wilson, and ended up being the second-leading point-getter on Finland’s blueline with three assists. Granted, he was also tied with Esa Lindell and Niko Mikkola who also had three points each, but Ristolainen was stellar most of the time.
Added to that was the fact Ristolainen and Mikkola were tied atop Finland’s roster with a +9 in the plus/minus category, including a +2 in Saturday’s contest. Earlier in the competition, the big defenseman was tied atop the statistic overall with Canada’s Devon Toews who were both +8 on Feb. 18. To see him playing so solidly, and returning to Philadelphia in one piece, has to be a feather in the team’s cap. If he plays this well against the world’s best, maybe that can translate into a fantastic homestretch. But perhaps even more importantly, it could certain increase his trade value in the coming days before the deadline in early March.
What has Ristolainen gained from this?
Averaging roughly 20 minutes per game, and playing as well as you could dream of, Rasmus Ristolainen certainly has to be feeling great about his game heading back to the Flyers. It’s probably the biggest confidence boost he’s received in his time with the Flyers, a tenure that has been hampered by recurring injuries in recent seasons. If he’s over that injury hump now, maybe the idea of him finding his mojo or oomph as a menacing, take-no-prisoners, defensively-sound blueliner isn’t so far fetched. Should he come back from this competition and hit a wall or go into a funk, it would be perhaps a huge step back for him.
When he returns, and the Flyers see him helping the club go on an early five-game or six-game winning streak starting Wednesday night against Tom Wilson and the Capitals, maybe Briere sees the situation far more as a no-lose one than a no-win one it resembled as recent as a month ago. Ristolainen won’t probably see himself on the top pair when he gets back. But just how well he’s played will make him a far more interesting commodity among a handful of teams who view him as a means to make a deep run even deeper.
Ristolainen might not be surprised by this turn of events in Italy the last two weeks, but he’s probably the only one considering just how things have gone for him the last few seasons. In short, this two-week stint has opened up the window for him much wider to see games beyond the 82 of the regular season.
What has Briere gained from this?
Briere could not have dreamed this would come to pass. The speculation about Ristolainen being atop the list of teams seeking a big blueliner seemed dormant six weeks ago. He was injured for two weeks in January, returning on Jan. 26 only to play 61 seconds the following game and getting hurt. Now, with a bronze medal to celebrate, and being one of the more visible defenders not on Team Canada or Team USA, Ristolainen might have played his way out of Philadelphia. And that might be music to the ears of not just Flyer fans, but the general manager also.
Such a strong showing should have teams (Edmonton being atop the list?) making some phone calls to Briere to see what it would take for Ristolainen to head elsewhere before the March 6 trade deadline. The Olympics might have even started a bidding war among teams to see if they can sweeten a deal to ensure Ristolainen heads to their team. Briere has gone from essentially having his secretary call him to see if his phone line is working to now possibly being bombarded by other general managers seeing what it’ll take to get Ristolainen out of Philadelphia.
Could the performance in Italy result in Philadelphia acquiring a first-round pick much like they did with Scott Laughton last year? Would they be able to completely unload the remaining $5.1 million average annual value next season without needing to retain anything? Or would they be able to acquire an extra prospect or pick from such a transaction? Again, these are all notions that would’ve been laughable less than six week ago but should be at the forefront of some minds moving forward. One small factor which could help is that next season Ristolainen’s base salary is $4 million, so what he’s being paid will be $1.1 million under his actual salary cap hit. It’s a bit of information that shouldn’t move the needle much. Yet considering how well the Finn played this last two weeks, that little tidbit might be another plus for Philadelphia.
Briere has to know pulling the trigger on such as deal would make a lot of sense. He would be unloading a player that will probably never be hotter an asset than he currently is. And he could be receiving a high-end pick or promising prospect in the process. Also, considering just how injury-prone Ristolainen has been in recent seasons, it’s almost incumbent on the Flyers general manager to strike while the iron is this hot. What makes this so incredible is it’s such a foreseeable win-win for everybody involved. Philadelphia can acquire pieces that they could use moving forward. Meanwhile Rasmus Ristolainen could be 26 games away from playing in his first playoff game in his long National Hockey League career. He has paid his dues to earn that right, as he’s nearing 800 games in his career. And as much as a hot streak down the stretch could see him play post-season games in Philadelphia, it would be a huge miscue to see Ristolainen in the same Flyers uniform the evening of March 6.