I think anyone who says Buffalo isn’t shopping Risto is naive. There is a reason the Sabres have acquired three good right-handed defencemen in the past few months.
I also think that the reason Risto is available has very little to do with his defence; it’s because the team needs to acquire a top six forward(s) who can help right now and Risto is probably the only asset they have that might be able to fetch that who they can afford to part with; and it’s also partly because the player and the team acknowledge that six years of losing has beaten him down.
If he is traded, it will be because there is a team out there who wants him for their top four who is willing to give up assets the Sabres can use or flip to help their top six.
And before people rush in to say “Risto isn’t good enough to get that kind of player” two things: package deals exist; and if not, he shouldn’t be traded.
The amount of posters who don’t recognize this is astounding.
This 100%. Thank you - people are treating Risto's value like he's a f#*king cap dump here... HE'S NOT. Would love to dump Bogo and Scandella and actually give Risto at least a full camp and the first half of the season under Krueger to see if playing in an actual structured defense system improves his situational numbers.
Multiple former NHLers & analysts, including Craig Rivet have openly criticized the lack of an actual defensive system during Housley & Bylsma's tenures here - IMO Ralph and his peeps should get a kick at making it work anyhow.