Ristolainen seems to have some... issues. It's not easy to parse them out. He seems to have a bit of a victim complex atm. He definitely seems to have some issues defensively on the ice too. How much of all that is correctable with a change of scenery, who knows. Flip side, he's big, young, talented.
I don't think we could gamble on trading Ellis for him, though. I mean, already I'm scared our RD situation is too thin. Ellis has ample flaws too, of course. But if you move him out, you're just bringing Ristolainen back into a situation where he has to play 25+ minutes a night in all situations, with a lot of pressure on him, and isn't that supposed to be part of the reason he has struggled for the Sabres?
So I'd be ok bringing in Ristolainen, just not in a trade for Ellis (and anyway, Buffalo has lots of depth on D so it's probably not where they are looking anyway). Bringing Risto in to play BEHIND Ellis is more what I'd be looking at. Maybe we could pull the minutes back a little on both of them that way. Give him a little chance to work out his issues while sharing some time with Fabbro.
But anyway, with his contract, the Seattle draft, all that... it's not like we would be wise to pay much of a premium to acquire Ristolainen at the moment either. I think the Sabres are within their rights to take those positive traits he has - size, youth, skill - and aim for a strong return. They do seem to be looking for a #2/3 Center. And in our situation, Turris and Bonino are both a little redundant now with Duchene signed and Sissons locked up. But Turris or Bonino aren't going to be attractive enough pieces alone for the Sabres, even with the positional fit. So I don't know where to go from there. I don't want to throw any of our most valuable futures in with one of them on a short-term gamble on Ristolainen.
If they ever got totally fed up with Ristolainen and just plain desperate to move him, of course I'd very cheerfully send them Turris or Bonino plus some non-significant throw-ins for him. Maybe at most a 2nd round pick. But that's about it. I just don't see us paying a "fair" price for him, though. He'd have to be firesaled at some kind of crazy bargain, given our current situation on D and with expansion looming.