Well, this is finally it. After five years of service, Rasmus Ristolainen is entering the final season of the five-year extension deal he signed after being traded to Philadelphia from Buffalo. It's been an interesting up-and-down career with him. He never became the point producer in Philly as he was in Buffalo (reaching the 20-point mark only one time in those five years). He's been a physical presence for the Flyers' defense; however, he's been injured often.
Many fans didn't like the deal the team made to extend him. They felt it was too much money. Plus, it came at the cost of the team trading away Shayne Gostisbehere, a fan favorite. At times, he was called out by former head coach John Tortorella for sloppy, lazy play. To his credit, he responded well to the challenge. Despite that, trade rumors have dogged him for the last few seasons. "Maybe this would be the year he is moved at the deadline?" There were also many rumors that he could be moved as a way to help pay for Leo Carlsson or some other big splash.
With about six weeks before training camp begins, Ristolainen is still a Flyer. He played in every playoff game this postseason and played well enough (1 goal, 4 assists, 9 blocks, and 20 hits in 10 games). Even down the stretch, it appeared that Ristolainen had won the trust of head coach Rick Tocchet and GM Daniel Briere.
So now what? For Ristolainen and the Flyers, there are three possible outcomes.
Ristolainen is Traded
The team will play him in most games to show that he is healthy enough. He'll sit a few to rest up, but also to give some of the younger defenders (Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek) some game time. It will be easy to see him becoming a mentor to Jiricek. Jiricek has struggled to stay on an NHL roster full time. He's supposed to be a physically intimidating, scoring defender; much like Ristolainen was supposed to be. Perhaps he can help the youngster out.
Whether or not the Flyers are playoff-bound come March is irrelevant to Ristolainen's fate here. The team will use him as a rental trade piece and try to pry some draft picks or a young prospect over to build them up. After five years, Ristolainen is traded away and is someone else's problem as they try to employ him on their playoff run.
I feel this is the most likely circumstance. It allows the Flyers to use his skill set for most of the year, but get something in return for him while they can. It could be a big something too. After all, they did get a first-rounder for Sean Walker a few years ago. If Ristolainen has a bounce-back, healthy season, he could become very valuable to a team looking to make a deep postseason run.
Flyers Re-Sign Ristolainen
Speaking of making a deep run, he could become too valuable to give up. If Jiricek, Bonk, or any other defender aren't ready to contribute yet, they may already have their answer here. Ristolainen could be re-signed on the cheap for a year or two, especially if the top-level defenders who are scheduled to become free agents are already off the market (Cale Makar, Jalen Chatfield, Dmitri Orlov, Justin Faulk, and Gostisbehere).
In that case, it might not be a terrible idea to re-sign him to a short-term contract. If he is healthy, plays smart defense, and is a good teammate and mentor to Jiricek, he might be worth holding onto.
During the late-season run, Tocchet was complimentary of Ristolainen. He was always quick to praise him. Tocchet may want him to stick around longer. After all, sometimes getting a free agent doesn't help the team out. Sometimes it's better to stick with the devil you know than the one you don't.
Ristolainen walks in free agency
This is the worst possible scenario. Here, the Flyers bank on him for the playoff run. Maybe a lot of players on the blueline got injured. Maybe he was playing too well to give up on. Whatever the reason, the Flyers don't pull the trigger on a trade. Whatever happens to the Flyers in the postseason happens.
At the end of the season, Briere and the team can't come to an agreement on a contract with Ristolainen. He elects to test the market and signs with some other team.
The reason that this scenario sucks is that they'd get nothing for him. They chanced on him choosing Philadelphia after the season's conclusion, and it didn't happen. He moved on.
We don't know what's going to happen here. We do know that the Ristolainen storyline will be one of many the Flyers will face this year (with Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone dominating to start). As the season progresses, however, watch this storyline develop.
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