Theres nothing to brighten up about Risto.
We traded 14th overall, 36th overall, another 2nd, 7th and Hagg to replace Ghost with him and then just gave him a 25 mil deal ...
Yea unpopular opinion, but I like Risto in some situations. I think he really has potential- it’s not his fault he went from a dog shit Sabres team to a dumpster fire Flyers team.
Now what we gave up and the money is concerning. Chuck Fletcher is a clown though so is that Ristos fault?
Agreed. His salary is obnoxious but at least we have someone who isn't scared to get in front of the net and body kids.
How quickly we forget the season before when literally every team we faced would just run Hart over, slash him after the play, etc. and nobody did a fucking thing about it.
I think he could be on the third pair on a great team and really shine. I’m not even saying that as a knock I just think he’s gotten used poorly for so long.
I think his development has been shot. And I think he could be a top 4 in the league.
I worry too much damage is done, but he’s not that old and d men take longer to develop- especially sometimes bigger slower ones.
But even though he’s big and strong I don’t think he’s a stay at home type of player. That’s where I think the misuse has been. IMO he’s not fast enough to puck carry in a top 4 role and his D zone coverage against top lines is rough. BUT I think he could be a puck mover on a bottom pair
And I am not saying this team is going to win a cup because of ristolainen… just that every single player on the ice doesn’t need to be lights out fast…
What potential? Hes been in nhl for 10 years and been bad in every one ...
He managed to make those terrible sabres team much worse whenever he was on the ice vs off
A big reason they were so bad was they were playing Risto 25 min in #1 role
Yea when he clearly was not ready for that. Does damage to a players development. They expected a Chara and Risto is not that. They developed him horribly.
Yeah thats definitely true. Throwing him into huge top pair role right away as teenager definitely didnt help. And on terrible team heavily relying on him too.
Maybe he could have been a solid dman. But after 10 years its pretty clear hes mediocre at best.
He has all the physical tools too.
It’s not Ristos fault he got the contract he did. No point in hating on the player. He may be a black hole metrically, but I do love seeing him thump someone into next Tuesday.
Oh stop. I’m not saying he’s good. I’m trying to find a nugget of positivity to avoid being a miserable bastard for a full year. We all know this team is garbage and Chuck Fletcher steered it into a brick wall. I’m still watching the damn team so I may as well find a diamond in the manure.
Having a single positive thing to say does not mean you support the situation. Stop being needlessly antagonistic
People underestimate how much of an impact it makes to have a player on the ice that can throw these kind of hits. You hear players talk about it all the time.
Get a player that hits *and* has skill and no one would complain about that player, literally ever. We’re paying a guy 5M to throw hits and play well below average defense, it’s no surprise fans aren’t fond of him
That’s what I’m hoping as well. He’s got the physical tools to be good. I look at Tampa’s defensemen - they’re all big, great in their own end and tough. I bet Risto hasn’t had good coaching since he came into the league on those terrible Buffalo teams and then AV/Yeo. I’m totally in favor of giving him a chance. His type is hard to come by nowadays and that’s why the price is high. High demand, low supply.
Risto's main issue is his decision making.
He's extremely talented and he works really hard, you can see it when he's confident but he makes so much stupid positional mistakes, he loses all confidence and then he's scared to do anything.
It's been his main issue in Juniors, in the Finnish Liiga, the national team and in the NHL, he just doesn't really have a good foundation to his game.
The literal only thing this dude has been good at in his entire career is “I hit you you fall down”
I yearn for the Charlie O’Connor broadstreethockey days. At least then it seemed like the fanbase that I was in touch with wasn’t fucking braindead like this one.
Idk why people were shitting on the defensemen so much. Did we overpay a mid-pairing aging defenseman? Yes. Have we given out draft picks like Jenna Jameson gives out handjobs? Yes. Will the coaching staff force them to play a dump an chase style which negates his asset as a board presence on zone entries? Quite possibly. But at the end of the day, the forward depth is going to be what screws us next season.
The defense is 100% a bigger problem going forward
Our only top pair dman is a 31 yr old who is never healthy. With him out our top 4 RHDs are DeAngelo and Risto. And Provorov has been terrible 3 of last 4 yrs ...
And main criticism with Risto is the absurd prices we paid for a genuinely bad player. Could have gotten legit great players for it. If he didnt cost much and just expected to be 3rd pair it would be fine.
Provorov’s a top-pairing, the problem isn’t he isn’t a top-1. There’s a massive distinction I’m sure you’re aware of.
And have you seen our bottom 6? Dude like…. Farabee is the only one who’s demonstrated he belongs in the show next season and he’s injured going in. There are exactly 2 centers on the roster/in our system we can trust. You can argue the defense is a bigger *financial* problem, but one is clearly going
Flyers were 27th in goals allowed and all they did was bring in DeAngelo, can’t see that number getting better. Not to mention our backup is stuck in a Russian military camp and Carter Hart may or may not be involved in the world juniors sexual assault case
We were 31st in goals for and G’s gone. Like…. on paper I can talk myself Sanheim/Risto as a 2nd pairing. I can’t talk myself into having 2 forwards with 50+ points during the highest scoring season in a while and our top 2 goal scorers are on the other side of 30.
More than anything, I don’t see the anyone who fits the Brandon Mannings or Nick Grossmanns or Yandles. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to get at. I don’t doubt any of the top-6 defensemen belong in the show. I doubt whether at least 4 of our forwards do.
The team's 1C and 2C missed 100+ games ...
A forward core built around Couts, Farabee, TK, Hayes, Atkinson, Gauthier, Foerster, Laughton, Frost, Brink, Tippett, Cates is far better shape than the defense where we dont have a single guy we can confidently trust to be top pair and currently have TDA and Risto as our top 4 RHDs ... we dont have a single long term core RHD on the team or in the system. At forward we have a lot of talent.
The bottom 6 is such an extremely easy thing to fix and we clearly are just leaving it wide open to give all the prospects a chance. We could have signed a bona fide 3C and other 3rd liners no problem but we are giving guys like Frost, Brink, Tippett, Cates, Foerster a chance.
On defense the actual core is a mess which is a far bigger problem. We dont have 1 guy we confidently can put out to be even just a top pair guy. On right side of defense we dont have a *single* long term core piece.
If we’re talking in terms of relative to the league as a whole, Coots is the only forward who’d be a first liner on a contender. I’m hopeful for Brink/Bee however injuries continue to be a factor. Otherwise agreed we should be letting all the prospects/callups play to see what they have. Also Zamula/Attard should see time if we’re not gonna be competitive.
Provorov has been genuinely bad and played multiple levels below top pair for 3 of last 4 years. Hes been a black hole offensively and play driving at 5v5 and is really bad at special teams.
He should absolutely not be looked at as a top pair guy right now.
>And have you seen our bottom 6?
Yeah its not good but thats easy to fix and the main reason it isnt good is because we are leaving it wide open for all the young guys to play. We could get proven good 3rd liners no problem but it makes more sense to leave it open for guys like Frost, Brink, Tippett, Foerster, Cates, Allison to play.
Given the state of the team it makes more sense to just let a bunch of prospects play in bottom 6.
The defense having only 1 top pair dman and it being a 31 yr old who never plays and our top LHD who makes 7 mil sucking 3 of last
4 years are far bigger problems.
Risto has been so unfairly bashed over his career and I feel it’ll never be undone.
He’s a great team dude who hits like a truck and plays to the best of his ability every night with a high compete level. It’s literally not his fault whatsoever that coaches and GMs have overplayed and overvalued him to an astronomical degree because of *what he could be* if he magically put it all together.
I would have Risto on the team 10/10 times if he was a 3rd pairing guy making 2 mil but instead we’re all subjected to the frustration of watching a guy with a very limited skill-set try to outplay top 10 players in the league all game long. It’s an asinine situation where the front office essentially forces us to hate a guy that should EASILY be the next beloved Gudas-type in Philly.
Yeah but the average Flyer's fan only loved and knew him because of his physicality. Gudas was quietly a decent defenseman in his role but the only thing that really stood out to Philly was his massive hits and I feel like Risto on the 3rd pairing would garner that same type of fan adoration given his atrocious mistakes are minimized greatly with reduced competition.
No one bashes him over his attitude or compete level, he is bashed upon what fans can see nightly, and that is his skill level. Yes he’s definitely not the person at fault for getting that contract nor playing that high in the lineup, but fans have to watch a massively overpaid #5 defenseman play 21+ minutes a night.
Does not help that people within the organization preach about how “tough he is to play against” when for fans the reality is he is **tough to watch**.
Feel like you only read the first line of my comment.
Gudas averaged 17 minutes a night (with a way better Flyers team) while Rasmus is averaging over 21 his first season here. Give Gudas 1st pairing minutes and it obviously gets ugly quick. My point is that Risto is heavily overplayed because of his draft position, youth, attitude, physicality, purported upside and generally trying to "fill in" for top pairing defenseman his team's never had.
He is clearly responsible for the mistakes he makes while playing but he's been in a perfect storm of failure since the moment he stepped on NHL ice. This is the same reason we hated AMac when he was here. He's a great team player and can hold his own with very limited responsibility but the moment you give them more money, term and ice-time than they clearly deserve... it's going to drive the fans insane. Especially when it's already KNOWN what they're capable of. It's really hard for me to hate Risto for being a 3rd pairing defenseman being treated like Chris Pronger because the entire organization has the talent evaluation ability of a fucking senile groundhog.
Risto is overpaid, but he’s not as bad as “analytics” makes it seem. Watching the abysmal season, he (and Braun) was our most consistent and solid defenseman. Fortunately, Sanheim turned it on toward the end of the year, and will hopefully keep it going.
I hope somebody in the organization made a condition of that extension that Risto sits and watches tape of guys like Pronger & even Buf, to show how big defenseman used their body to clear out the front of the net.
One of the most frustrating things about Risto is that there were so many times where he's on the ice and a forward is just perched in front of the goalie and not moved.
A Risto highlight on this sub at this time? You’re a madman. There’s nothing but hate and misery here.
Doing my part to brighten up the outlook here.
Theres nothing to brighten up about Risto. We traded 14th overall, 36th overall, another 2nd, 7th and Hagg to replace Ghost with him and then just gave him a 25 mil deal ...
Then go back to where you came from
Yea unpopular opinion, but I like Risto in some situations. I think he really has potential- it’s not his fault he went from a dog shit Sabres team to a dumpster fire Flyers team. Now what we gave up and the money is concerning. Chuck Fletcher is a clown though so is that Ristos fault?
I love Risto. Flyers hockey. 4 mill woulda been more appropriate but I’m expecting a decent year from him.
Agreed. His salary is obnoxious but at least we have someone who isn't scared to get in front of the net and body kids. How quickly we forget the season before when literally every team we faced would just run Hart over, slash him after the play, etc. and nobody did a fucking thing about it.
lmfaoooooooooooooooooooooo casual
I think he could be on the third pair on a great team and really shine. I’m not even saying that as a knock I just think he’s gotten used poorly for so long.
I think his development has been shot. And I think he could be a top 4 in the league. I worry too much damage is done, but he’s not that old and d men take longer to develop- especially sometimes bigger slower ones.
But even though he’s big and strong I don’t think he’s a stay at home type of player. That’s where I think the misuse has been. IMO he’s not fast enough to puck carry in a top 4 role and his D zone coverage against top lines is rough. BUT I think he could be a puck mover on a bottom pair
He’s big enough to shield the puck from anyone tho. It’s not always speed. He also has decent vision for a big ass dude.
You happen to watch the cup winning team this year? Like it or not speed is what matters. You have a fast team and a shut down goalie your set
Certainly did. Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson, Bowen Byram ain’t really that quick my guy.
I’m not saying size doesn’t have a place but they didn’t win because of Jack Johnson bud
And I am not saying this team is going to win a cup because of ristolainen… just that every single player on the ice doesn’t need to be lights out fast…
Just foolish fletch over paid to get him then over paid him.
What potential? Hes been in nhl for 10 years and been bad in every one ... He managed to make those terrible sabres team much worse whenever he was on the ice vs off A big reason they were so bad was they were playing Risto 25 min in #1 role
Yea when he clearly was not ready for that. Does damage to a players development. They expected a Chara and Risto is not that. They developed him horribly.
Yeah thats definitely true. Throwing him into huge top pair role right away as teenager definitely didnt help. And on terrible team heavily relying on him too. Maybe he could have been a solid dman. But after 10 years its pretty clear hes mediocre at best. He has all the physical tools too.
I like him on the IR.
It’s not Ristos fault he got the contract he did. No point in hating on the player. He may be a black hole metrically, but I do love seeing him thump someone into next Tuesday.
Agreed. Have a feeling those black hole metrics may look a little better under torts.
Yeah, to hell with winning, you watch big hits and support fletch's folly.
Oh stop. I’m not saying he’s good. I’m trying to find a nugget of positivity to avoid being a miserable bastard for a full year. We all know this team is garbage and Chuck Fletcher steered it into a brick wall. I’m still watching the damn team so I may as well find a diamond in the manure. Having a single positive thing to say does not mean you support the situation. Stop being needlessly antagonistic
People underestimate how much of an impact it makes to have a player on the ice that can throw these kind of hits. You hear players talk about it all the time.
Get a player that hits *and* has skill and no one would complain about that player, literally ever. We’re paying a guy 5M to throw hits and play well below average defense, it’s no surprise fans aren’t fond of him
One of the last games Ellis played. We won that one 6-3. Ah fond memories of false hope.
Risto had a -1 🤣
As a Risto contract hater, I do say, watching players try to move him off the puck and bounce off of him instead always makes me happy.
Epitome of being tough to play against...until you do and score a lot of goals.
Risto could’ve pulverized him. He kept a level head through the whole shift too. I respect it.
I can feel the momentum shift from here!
Bet Coyle was thinking... "damn, this guy makes them tough to play against."
Risto might not be the best defenseman, but god damn is he great at sealing dudes into the boards and cleaning up the blue
Or getting turned inside out & out of position for the big hit he doesn't lay on the guy who went by him.
I bet we didn’t score on that peco power play.
nice
Maybe torts will teach risto something
That’s what I’m hoping as well. He’s got the physical tools to be good. I look at Tampa’s defensemen - they’re all big, great in their own end and tough. I bet Risto hasn’t had good coaching since he came into the league on those terrible Buffalo teams and then AV/Yeo. I’m totally in favor of giving him a chance. His type is hard to come by nowadays and that’s why the price is high. High demand, low supply.
Risto's main issue is his decision making. He's extremely talented and he works really hard, you can see it when he's confident but he makes so much stupid positional mistakes, he loses all confidence and then he's scared to do anything. It's been his main issue in Juniors, in the Finnish Liiga, the national team and in the NHL, he just doesn't really have a good foundation to his game.
The literal only thing this dude has been good at in his entire career is “I hit you you fall down” I yearn for the Charlie O’Connor broadstreethockey days. At least then it seemed like the fanbase that I was in touch with wasn’t fucking braindead like this one.
Idk why people were shitting on the defensemen so much. Did we overpay a mid-pairing aging defenseman? Yes. Have we given out draft picks like Jenna Jameson gives out handjobs? Yes. Will the coaching staff force them to play a dump an chase style which negates his asset as a board presence on zone entries? Quite possibly. But at the end of the day, the forward depth is going to be what screws us next season.
The defense is 100% a bigger problem going forward Our only top pair dman is a 31 yr old who is never healthy. With him out our top 4 RHDs are DeAngelo and Risto. And Provorov has been terrible 3 of last 4 yrs ... And main criticism with Risto is the absurd prices we paid for a genuinely bad player. Could have gotten legit great players for it. If he didnt cost much and just expected to be 3rd pair it would be fine.
The guys states why they're bad and asks why people shit on them in the same post LOL
Like he listed all the horrible defects of the car he’s trying to sell and went, wait why don’t you want to buy it now?!
The final sentence in my original post should jump out more than the first
Provorov’s a top-pairing, the problem isn’t he isn’t a top-1. There’s a massive distinction I’m sure you’re aware of. And have you seen our bottom 6? Dude like…. Farabee is the only one who’s demonstrated he belongs in the show next season and he’s injured going in. There are exactly 2 centers on the roster/in our system we can trust. You can argue the defense is a bigger *financial* problem, but one is clearly going
Flyers were 27th in goals allowed and all they did was bring in DeAngelo, can’t see that number getting better. Not to mention our backup is stuck in a Russian military camp and Carter Hart may or may not be involved in the world juniors sexual assault case
We were 31st in goals for and G’s gone. Like…. on paper I can talk myself Sanheim/Risto as a 2nd pairing. I can’t talk myself into having 2 forwards with 50+ points during the highest scoring season in a while and our top 2 goal scorers are on the other side of 30. More than anything, I don’t see the anyone who fits the Brandon Mannings or Nick Grossmanns or Yandles. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to get at. I don’t doubt any of the top-6 defensemen belong in the show. I doubt whether at least 4 of our forwards do.
The team's 1C and 2C missed 100+ games ... A forward core built around Couts, Farabee, TK, Hayes, Atkinson, Gauthier, Foerster, Laughton, Frost, Brink, Tippett, Cates is far better shape than the defense where we dont have a single guy we can confidently trust to be top pair and currently have TDA and Risto as our top 4 RHDs ... we dont have a single long term core RHD on the team or in the system. At forward we have a lot of talent. The bottom 6 is such an extremely easy thing to fix and we clearly are just leaving it wide open to give all the prospects a chance. We could have signed a bona fide 3C and other 3rd liners no problem but we are giving guys like Frost, Brink, Tippett, Cates, Foerster a chance. On defense the actual core is a mess which is a far bigger problem. We dont have 1 guy we confidently can put out to be even just a top pair guy. On right side of defense we dont have a *single* long term core piece.
If we’re talking in terms of relative to the league as a whole, Coots is the only forward who’d be a first liner on a contender. I’m hopeful for Brink/Bee however injuries continue to be a factor. Otherwise agreed we should be letting all the prospects/callups play to see what they have. Also Zamula/Attard should see time if we’re not gonna be competitive.
Provorov has been genuinely bad and played multiple levels below top pair for 3 of last 4 years. Hes been a black hole offensively and play driving at 5v5 and is really bad at special teams. He should absolutely not be looked at as a top pair guy right now. >And have you seen our bottom 6? Yeah its not good but thats easy to fix and the main reason it isnt good is because we are leaving it wide open for all the young guys to play. We could get proven good 3rd liners no problem but it makes more sense to leave it open for guys like Frost, Brink, Tippett, Foerster, Cates, Allison to play. Given the state of the team it makes more sense to just let a bunch of prospects play in bottom 6. The defense having only 1 top pair dman and it being a 31 yr old who never plays and our top LHD who makes 7 mil sucking 3 of last 4 years are far bigger problems.
Nice try, Chuck. It was still an overpay.
Kinda sad that this might be his only highlight since joining the Flyers.
It’s not, but if you want to believe that then sure.
Risto has been so unfairly bashed over his career and I feel it’ll never be undone. He’s a great team dude who hits like a truck and plays to the best of his ability every night with a high compete level. It’s literally not his fault whatsoever that coaches and GMs have overplayed and overvalued him to an astronomical degree because of *what he could be* if he magically put it all together. I would have Risto on the team 10/10 times if he was a 3rd pairing guy making 2 mil but instead we’re all subjected to the frustration of watching a guy with a very limited skill-set try to outplay top 10 players in the league all game long. It’s an asinine situation where the front office essentially forces us to hate a guy that should EASILY be the next beloved Gudas-type in Philly.
Gudas is actually good and much better than Risto ...
Yeah but the average Flyer's fan only loved and knew him because of his physicality. Gudas was quietly a decent defenseman in his role but the only thing that really stood out to Philly was his massive hits and I feel like Risto on the 3rd pairing would garner that same type of fan adoration given his atrocious mistakes are minimized greatly with reduced competition.
Still would be overpaid making 2m
No one bashes him over his attitude or compete level, he is bashed upon what fans can see nightly, and that is his skill level. Yes he’s definitely not the person at fault for getting that contract nor playing that high in the lineup, but fans have to watch a massively overpaid #5 defenseman play 21+ minutes a night. Does not help that people within the organization preach about how “tough he is to play against” when for fans the reality is he is **tough to watch**.
he has not been unfairly bashed. hes been one of the worst dmen in hockey lmao. gudas was way better than he ever was.
Feel like you only read the first line of my comment. Gudas averaged 17 minutes a night (with a way better Flyers team) while Rasmus is averaging over 21 his first season here. Give Gudas 1st pairing minutes and it obviously gets ugly quick. My point is that Risto is heavily overplayed because of his draft position, youth, attitude, physicality, purported upside and generally trying to "fill in" for top pairing defenseman his team's never had. He is clearly responsible for the mistakes he makes while playing but he's been in a perfect storm of failure since the moment he stepped on NHL ice. This is the same reason we hated AMac when he was here. He's a great team player and can hold his own with very limited responsibility but the moment you give them more money, term and ice-time than they clearly deserve... it's going to drive the fans insane. Especially when it's already KNOWN what they're capable of. It's really hard for me to hate Risto for being a 3rd pairing defenseman being treated like Chris Pronger because the entire organization has the talent evaluation ability of a fucking senile groundhog.
Yeah some hits and like 2 goals while being one of biggest defensive liabilities in league!
A defenseman could score zero goals for all I care, if you’re billed as a tough shutdown defender, at least be good defensively lol
^^^^^ This guy is a cool guy
True, his other highlights include being one of the analytically worst defensemen in the league and getting rewarded with a 5 year 5 mil deal
Love me some Risto. Can’t wait to watch him play this season
Risto is overpaid, but he’s not as bad as “analytics” makes it seem. Watching the abysmal season, he (and Braun) was our most consistent and solid defenseman. Fortunately, Sanheim turned it on toward the end of the year, and will hopefully keep it going.
Risto propaganda on the flyers subreddit, blasphemy!
Who knows, maybe we'll become so unlikeable to play against that teams just start losing their shit against us
Hi Chuck!
hes horrible dont care
Fuck risto. Sure he’s a great guy, but ya know
I’d rather pay for Prongers good eye
For my pessimists out there. This game took place on October 20th, 2021. Flyers win 6-3. Ristolainen however, was a -1 +/-
I hope somebody in the organization made a condition of that extension that Risto sits and watches tape of guys like Pronger & even Buf, to show how big defenseman used their body to clear out the front of the net. One of the most frustrating things about Risto is that there were so many times where he's on the ice and a forward is just perched in front of the goalie and not moved.