Ristolainen is underrated

[Jerrodedson99]

I'm a big fan of Rasmus Ristolainen, but I seem to be in the minority. To me, he's on the verge of being in the top 5-10 range for defensemen soon. In fact, many of his stats this year put him either near or in the top 10 already and he's only 22. Check out these stats from this year with his rank among defensemen beside each one:
Assists (tied for 7th)
PPP (tied for 5th)
PPA (2nd)
Hits (9th)
SOG (13th)
BS (13th)

For an under-the-radar Dman who puts up good numbers (that should keep getting better), Ristolainen is your man. He's my keeper D.

[Jerrodedson99]

...yet on every rankings list he's way down there. I don't get it.

[ericdaoust]

I also believe he should be higher but the stats you listed aren't used for the rankings so I'm not sure why you listed them. It's a points-based list.

[jdreed3184]

In a multi-cat league, Ristolainen is a beast. I threw everything at his owner in my league this year - didn't budge.

In a points only league, he's probably more in the 20ish range

[Cedricc21]

I recently traded Risto for Burns in a multi-category league. He'd definitely got value. Age and team status (competing vs. rebuilding) played a major role, but Risto alone still got me Burns.

[Jerrodedson99]

I should have made it clear I'm basing things on multi-cat leagues because that's where I'm coming from. But even if I weren't, I still think he's underrated. Take away the other stats and just go pts only and he's still listed too low; you can't ignore the fact that at just 22 years old he QB'd the #1 PP in the league and Eichel IMO is just getting started. I think Risto has crazy upside going forward.

[Big Baby]

Yes he is.

Going to be lethal on that PP this year.

[RizzeeDizzee]

If you read these forums regularly, Risto gets lots of love - rightfully so

[Jerrodedson99]

If you read these forums regularly, Risto gets lots of love - rightfully so

I'm new to these forums; good to know! Man, this is addictive...

[Axeman33]

Ya, he's not underrated around these parts by any means. Good thread though.

[Call of Doughty]

Yes he gets a lot of love around these parts dating back to jr. days with Team Finland. No doubt a stud in mutli cat leagues. Not sure I'd rank him among the elites in point only. Being useful at both ends of the ice ( a la Weber) might hinder his point totals going forward. Still remains a little streaky at times bouncing in and out of hot/cold weeks. Had five 0 point weeks and 10 weeks while registering only 1 point last season. With age, I'm sure those 1 week totals will turn into 2 and 3 on a more consistent basis. I can see him be a consistent 48-50 point player with 54-56 in his best years. Multi, top 5 d man.

[Pengwin7]

This is a fun thread.
It reminds me of one a few years ago where a Dobber forum member came back from a Leafs game and started a thread to tell us that Nathan MacKinnon was a really good looking player!
And the forum was like "Um... yeah... we know."

But - it's still a good reminder that Risto has crept up to be on the fringe of the top multi-cat D men (Karlsson, Buff, Weber).

[MrSandals]

I'm new to these forums; good to know! Man, this is addictive...

Welcome to the madness!