Rasmus Ristolainen: What a Difference a Year Makes

My uncle José is a Camden born South Jersey inhabitant. One of the things I always admired about him is his shockingly blunt sense of humor. If someone said, “Hey, such and such wants off the {insert Philly team}!”, his response would’ve been, “I’ll help him pack and drive him to the airport.” I guarantee you, a year ago, he would’ve said the same thing about Flyers defender Rasmus Ristolainen. And you know what, I would’ve been there with him too. And to be honest, so would’ve about 90% of the Flyers Nation.

He arrived in Philly under a cloud. First, the Flyers paid a LOT to get him. Soon after, he signed a five year extension that paid him $5,100,000 a year; the second highest for a defender on the team, only behind Ivan Provorov.

And then there was last season. His two goals in 66 games were the lowest in his career since his rookie year where he scored two in 34 games for Buffalo. His 16 points were the fewest since the four scored in his rookie season. Granted, his -9 was better than the -18 he had in his final season as a Sabre, but was still not worth his salary.  It almost seemed as if he got paid and didn’t care.

And with the youth movement that was coming up in Philly, especially on defense, many people thought: did we need to hold on to Risotlainen?