Speculation: Rishaug: Edmonton to make a push for Ristolainen; Klefbom and the 10OA could be in play

[Brock Radunske]

Little confused here, who the heck would want Klefbom?

Has had one good season in the NHL, in which pretty much every Oiler player were playing
far above their capabilities (other than McDavid and few others) and all of the sudden few people
think he is worth this much??? nuts. - small-sample-size -

Who right minded would trade Ristolainen for someone like Klefbom
10th overall pick?, that pick does not have that much value to be honest,
not nearly enough value to tip the scales, or make the trade close to even,
close to realistic.

Sure this would be like a jackpot for Chiarelli&Oilers but,
completely bury Sabres and NHL would have very little reasons
to keep Sabres in Buffalo, if it'd come to question after this season.

Are you sure you're not showing any Finnish bias with this post?

 

[Kyndig]

There have only been 2 good players picked in the last 10 years at 10OA.
Risto>Bogosian 2.0

Not trading the superior defenseman (and our only RHD) for some magic beans.

 

[hockeyguy1967]

San Jose lost the game because they couldn’t score goals on the power play. The Oilers gooned it up and San Jose remained disciplined, but they couldn’t score

They dominated the Ducks and swept them this year because they actually made some of their PP chances count this year. The Ducks were just as physical, and San Jose was never intimidated. Hell, the Ducks even physically dominated the same Oilers last year in round 2. The Oilers were so terrified that Nurse decided to open up Talbot’s pad with <20 seconds left so that they could just lose and get it over with.

Besides, you’re trying to brag and deflect from the Hall trade that Edmonton beat San Jose. Yet that is their only playoff series win with McDavid on the roster and he is the best player in the NHL. That is extremely disappointing. If San Jose won the draft lottery in 2015, the Sharks would already have one Stanley Cup and would probably be in the WCF right now. The Oilers have ruined McDavid’s first three years with only one playoff appearance and only one series win against a heavily injured and exhausted Sharks team. Congratulations on the series win, but the joke is still on you.

Sharks fan talking about playoffs? Ok bud. Not bragging about nothing just saying your team got demolished by the Oilers. I posted that stats from that game bud. Maybe if you won 2015 draft you would have a cup but you don't and most likely never will.

 

[hockeyguy1967]

This guy's angry lol.

Yep and quite delusional as well. Selective memory if he does not remember how that series went.

 

[Cup or Bust]

I would do that type of deal, but there would have to be something else coming back. If the Oilers do acquire an offensive d-man, Klefbom becomes redundant anyway. If a team does not use Klefbom as their #1 offensive d-man, he does not add much to a team. He is not physical, has below average acceleration and lateral skating ability, He is a decent skater in a straight line, has bad defensive IQ, and is pretty good offensively. You certainly do not acquire Klefbom for his defensive skills which I consider average at his best. When he is not at his best, he is a liability. If the Oilers can trade Klefbom for an upgrade that would certainly be a good thing.

 

[Maukkis]

I guess the only potential positive is that we wouldn’t need Risto to play top minutes as he’d slot in behind Larsson, who’d take the shutdown role and primarily play top comps.

If they do this I’d imagine they’d be looking at something like

Nurse-Larsson - shutdown
Sekera-Risto - offensive zonestarts
Russell-Benning - whatever is left

God that’s a massive gamble, asking Nurse to take another leap forward and hoping like hell Sekera bounces back.

Like a much worse version of Vlasic-Braun/Burns or Morrissey-Trouba/Byfuglien. Could be a viable solution.

 

[THall4]

No. That happened primarily because the Oilers were clearly the superior team.

And yes teams can win hockey games by bullying opponents even in 2018. Its unorthodox and doesn't happen often but it can and does happen. Ala this game.

That's guys arguments are hilarious.

If what he's saying was the actual case...what was Anaheim's excuse for needing 7 games to take out the Oilers...and they were a far superior team to San Jose

 

[oXo Cube]

I don't know why you guys let him derail every Oilers thread with his constant whining about how the Sharks would have won in 3 if only Thornton wasn't hurt.

 

[oXo Cube]

double post

 

[TFHockey]

I like Risto a lot but man our team is so weak defensively can we afford to cough up legit NHL defenseman? Go for the 10OA and a prospect or a forward.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I like Risto a lot but man our team is so weak defensively can we afford to cough up legit NHL defenseman? Go for the 10OA and a prospect or a forward.

You're forgetting the part where the other team also needs some semblance of a reason to make the trade.

Klefbom and the pick at least sort of does that. Klef is a clear downgrade from Risto: lefty rather than righty (RHD are always at a premium in the NHL), less physical, not exactly a defensive wizard himself even playing easier/less minutes than Risto, nowhere near as offensively productive, and a much lengthier injury history. But with him and the 10OA, you're at least offering something that might move the needle. A big heaping pile of "maybe they'll be good players someday" doesn't do that at all. Buffalo, after adding Dahlin, will have a whopping 3 legitimate NHL defensemen. We're not going to move our best one just for the hell of it.

 

[dasaybz]

Wow. Ristolainen is a very bad hockey player. Buffalo is going to get another steal aren’t they?

I was okay when the Oilers were giving players for free to the Devils and Islanders. Please don’t do Buffalo a favour please.

Where does this garbage come from? Excel is a better tool for evaluating players than actually watching them now right?

 

[AvatarAang]

10th + 2019 1st + Jones is something I would do.

So you value Klefbom more than a lottery pick + Jones? Do you actually think the Oilers would trade a 1st round pick given basically all of them have been lottery picks this past decade

 

[BruinDust]

Keith and Brodie play noticeably better on their off sides.

Brodin spent all of his time with Suter on the right side. I think Hjalmarsson spent a fair amount of time there in Chicago. There are probably others.

Great example, this is what Suter thought of it:
"
The biggest change appears to be one that will now have Ryan Suter skate on the same defense pairing as Jonas Brodin.
One person that was not a fan of that decision: Ryan Suter.
The biggest problem Suter has is the fact that both he and Brodin are left-handed shots, which forces one of them to play on their offside and limits their options with the puck. Suter was brutally honest about it on Monday.
"I guess they decided to change things up. I don't know what they're thinking," Suter said. "It's different, I need to play with a right-handed defensemen to give me more options in the neutral zone, offensively and even coming out of the D zone. It's not fair to put a guy on his offside. I don't know if it's just for practice today or what it is, they didn't say anything."
"

Wild D Ryan Suter questions coach for pairing him with Jonas Brodin

Reality is, despite what Suter says, it really comes down to the player being asked to play their off-side.

He's not wrong when he says it makes his own job more difficult in certain situations.

Some left-shot guys actually prefer to play their off-side. There are plenty of examples, some already cited.

Phaneuf prefers his off-side.

Ray Bourque played a large portion of his career on his off-side with left-shot partners (Sweeney, McLaren, Gill).

Dennis Seidenberg played his best hockey in Boston on his off-side.

Vegas seem to be doing just fine with one pair of left-shot D-men.

All that being said, the game keeps speeding up every year. And every incremental increase in speed, it becomes harder and harder for guys to play their off-side. That extra half-second to make some plays just isn't there anymore the way it used to be. Hence the push towards having strict LD-RD pairings across the league.

 

[TFHockey]

You're forgetting the part where the other team also needs some semblance of a reason to make the trade.

Klefbom and the pick at least sort of does that. Klef is a clear downgrade from Risto: lefty rather than righty (RHD are always at a premium in the NHL), less physical, not exactly a defensive wizard himself even playing easier/less minutes than Risto, nowhere near as offensively productive, and a much lengthier injury history. But with him and the 10OA, you're at least offering something that might move the needle. A big heaping pile of "maybe they'll be good players someday" doesn't do that at all. Buffalo, after adding Dahlin, will have a whopping 3 legitimate NHL defensemen. We're not going to move our best one just for the hell of it.

I agree, the trade has to make sense for Buffalo.

Kelfbom is a clear downgrade from Risto offensively speaking. Ristolainen is not as good defensively as Klefbom. You're understating Klefbom's ability and also selling short the minutes he has played. Klefbom has not been given sheltered minutes.

Klefbom has had a number of injuries. Totally true. He was limited to around 30 games in 15-16 because of a freak staph infection. He came back in 16-17 and was lights out good. Last year he injured his shoulder in the pre-season and it took a massive toll. He had a terrible season. Add to that Sekera being out until Christmas and never really getting his game back...

So from an Edmonton perspective we are trading you guys a top 4 LHD (with injury history) plus a 10 OA for a very offensively gifted RHD who has a few warts in his game.

I'd be much happier trading a top prospect and the 10 OA instead. I completely understand if Buffalo doesn't do this if it isn't what their team needs.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I agree, the trade has to make sense for Buffalo.

Kelfbom is a clear downgrade from Risto offensively speaking. Ristolainen is not as good defensively as Klefbom. You're understating Klefbom's ability and also selling short the minutes he has played. Klefbom has not been given sheltered minutes.

Klefbom has had a number of injuries. Totally true. He was limited to around 30 games in 15-16 because of a freak staph infection. He came back in 16-17 and was lights out good. Last year he injured his shoulder in the pre-season and it took a massive toll. He had a terrible season. Add to that Sekera being out until Christmas and never really getting his game back...

So from an Edmonton perspective we are trading you guys a top 4 LHD (with injury history) plus a 10 OA for a very offensively gifted RHD who has a few warts in his game.

I'd be much happier trading a top prospect and the 10 OA instead. I completely understand if Buffalo doesn't do this if it isn't what their team needs.

Can't blame Edmonton fans for believing/hoping Klefbom will bounce back, but, as a Buffalo fan, that kind of history scares me. The Sabres are perennially near the top of the man-games lost to injury list already. A big part of why Buffalo hasn't gotten any better isn't just that our starting roster isn't good enough; it's also that we almost never actually get to play our starting roster. Risto rarely misses time even though he plays nearly half of every game and plays with a physical edge. That trait is valuable. He's also been our only blue-liner capable of doing anything offensively, and he's consistently been a 40+ point player over the last 3 seasons despite the team being among the lowest scoring in the NHL, and despite being leaned on for tough minutes. Again, valuable. And then you look at the depth on our blue line behind him... Even trading Risto for a downgrade + other assets would hurt. Trading him for pure futures just can't happen.

 

[TFHockey]

Can't blame Edmonton fans for believing/hoping Klefbom will bounce back, but, as a Buffalo fan, that kind of history scares me. The Sabres are perennially near the top of the man-games lost to injury list already. A big part of why Buffalo hasn't gotten any better isn't just that our starting roster isn't good enough; it's also that we almost never actually get to play our starting roster. Risto rarely misses time even though he plays nearly half of every game and plays with a physical edge. That trait is valuable. He's also been our only blue-liner capable of doing anything offensively, and he's consistently been a 40+ point player over the last 3 seasons despite the team being among the lowest scoring in the NHL, and despite being leaned on for tough minutes. Again, valuable. And then you look at the depth on our blue line behind him... Even trading Risto for a downgrade + other assets would hurt. Trading him for pure futures just can't happen.

I get that. Fair enough.

If Klefbom and the 10 OA were coming to Buffalo there would have to be an add to Risto. I don't know for sure what the value of that add would be, but something has to come along to even things out.

Yes, Oiler fans believe Klefbom will bounce back. He is only 24. Also he is a good locker room guy from all accounts. Very popular player. Just sayin'.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I get that. Fair enough.

If Klefbom and the 10 OA were coming to Buffalo there would have to be an add to Risto. I don't know for sure what the value of that add would be, but something has to come along to even things out.

Yes, Oiler fans believe Klefbom will bounce back. He is only 24. Also he is a good locker room guy from all accounts. Very popular player. Just sayin'.

I'm not even sure if I would do Klef + 10, but I definitely wouldn't add. It would take a real overpayment to make trading Risto worth Buffalo's while, especially considering the relative scarcity of good RHD. Barring that, the best value Buffalo can get out of Risto is by keeping him and adding more D capable of playing a legitimate role on an NHL team so he doesn't have to be the guy who does everything. Burns can thrive at the level he does because Vlasic does the heavy lifting for San Jose; Keith and Seabrook were at their best when Chicago had Hjalmarsson munching the tough minutes. The clearest path for Buffalo to making our D (and team) better is adding to it, not subtracting from it. What the Sabres really need is to get Risto help.

 

[MattMartin]

Can the Islanders offer you something for the 10OA? I like the idea of picking 10th, 11th, and 12th.

 

[Draiskull]

Can the Islanders offer you something for the 10OA? I like the idea of picking 10th, 11th, and 12th.

Got another Reinhart?

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I’m not sure why everybody is saying I’m mad in here...

I came into this thread saying that Klefbom is a fantastic defenseman, and that trading him while his value was at its lowest is a bad idea. There is a very low chance that next season, after surgery, he comes back and is even worse than he was this year. The chance that he comes back in 2018-2019 and improves his value is very high.

I added that trading Klefbom and #10OV for an inferior RHD would be a stupid move, like the Hall for Larsson trade. Then Oilers fans attacked me for saying that because the Oilers “bullied the Sharks” and beat them, so it was clearly the right move. However, had the Oilers not had Klefbom (the guy they want to trade, and the guy I initially came in here to praise) for that series, they almost certainly would have lost; Klefbom was probably the best player for either team in that series. So, if you want to bring up that series as an example of why the Oilers should trade Klefbom, I think your logic is ass backwards.

We’re also just fans talking on here, so I hardly have reason to be angry. And if Peter Chiarelli did trade Klefbom and the #10OV for Ristolainen, as a Sharks fan, I wouldn’t be anything except for ecstatic about it.

 

[AvatarAang]

Can the Islanders offer you something for the 10OA? I like the idea of picking 10th, 11th, and 12th.

So did Boston but they ended up screwing up their 3 consecutive picks. zboril, desbrusk, senyshyn vs the next 3 picks barzal, connor, chabot.

 

[Superlative Soup]

So did Boston but they ended up screwing up their 3 consecutive picks. zboril, desbrusk, senyshyn vs the next 3 picks barzal, connor, chabot.

I dunno, Debrusk looked pretty good in the Leafs series

 

[AvatarAang]

I dunno, Debrusk looked pretty good in the Leafs series

I guess that settles it, one playoff series proves he must be better than Barzal, Connor, Chabot.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Having a blueline with Risto and Dahlin is something that the Sabre's should want to stick to. They also owe it to their fans that they're not going to stick in a perpetual rebuild mode, so trading Risto for a worse defenseman and a draft pick is probably the wrong message to send to people that are spending money on the team.