New Jersey Devils Still Linked To Rasmus Ristolainen

The New Jersey Devils will likely be making some moves this offseason especially on the defensive side. A name they have been linked to for a while now is Buffalo Sabres defender Rasmus Ristolainen. He was a high-end prospect at one time, but like a lot of Sabres players, he has never really hit that full potential thanks to being on a bad team for so long. Now he wants out with a lot of their better players and what was once the core. So should the Devils be interested?

This year was disappointing for him and he netted only 18 points in 49 games, good for .37 points per game. In the previous five seasons, he averaged .53 points per game. This is fantastic production on a terrible team and something he should easily be able to get back to at the young age of 26. His production is better than the top Devils guys and even Ty Smith‘s fantastic rookie season was just under half a point a game. This is not to say Smith will not be better offensively, or overall which he may well be already, but it does show the production level in a good way.

Another thing Ristolainen is good at is using his size and being straight-up mean on the ice. He is more than willing to mix it up after the whistles and knock guys around which is something the Devils need badly so adding a 6’4″ defender over 215 pounds would be huge. This season he landed a solid and impressive 193 hits good for nearly 4 per game and throughout the previous years he was near the 3 hits per game mark. Being a tougher team to play against is a big deal and if he can move the puck on top of that the Devils’ could potentially land something they need. His age is perfect for the team as well, being a veteran but not so old that he can’t be good for another 8 years much like a Damon Severson.

The bad with Ristolainen is he can be poor defensively and is a whopping -163 in his career while carrying some bad underlying numbers in possession. He does make questionable choices at times but when you’re on a bad team sometimes these things can be more noticeable as Devils fans know well. There is also the issue of losing for so long and the impact it has on a player. Buffalo has been terrible for a long time, even worse than the Devils and while a change would do the player well the Devils are still not much better. If they do acquire him they would need to prove right away that they can compete this year and push for the playoffs in two years or any player would be demanding a trade to at least have a shot at achieving the dream of a Stanley cup after nearly a decade with no hope.

So what would it take to get him?

With his good offensive but bad defensive numbers, it is hard to tell and Buffalo has made some awful trades recently on top of owners who love to push players out. They are a great target for all of these reasons but the Devils certainly can’t be offering too much or getting in a bidding war. Prospects such as Maltsev and Boqvist could easily be dangled with a mid-round pick which might entice them considering their trade history and if not Pavel Zacha in a one for one deal would be a huge risk/reward trade for both sides and either could look really bad or good for doing it.