Amid plenty of speculation over the summer that he was on his way out of town, and rumours of asking to be traded, Rasmus Ristolainen is back in Buffalo and says he's ready to move forward. According to John Vogl of The Athletic, the defenseman is refusing to say whether he asked for a trade, simply stating he was "pissed off" about six years of losing.
Earlier this summer, Ristolainen did an interview with a Finnish media outlet where he said: "I cannot say anything other than the fact that on the 12th of September, I will be at one of the NHL team's training camps." The 24-year-old is known for saying little, but he did add "I haven't been able to help the team win. Recent seasons have been tough and I haven't been able to enjoy hockey".
The comments fueled speculation that the blueliner had asked to be shipped out of Buffalo, but that didn't happen. According to Vogl, Ristolainen now says he's "doing great", although his comments regarding training camp seem far from overly enthusiastic.
"I'm here now. I'll guess I'll be here tomorrow ... ready to work."
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Sabres GM Jason Botterill, following Ristolainen's Finnish interview, told NHL.com the team was willing to work with the player to put him in a position to win.
"We continue to interact with 'Risto,' we're continuing to try to set this team up where we're putting Risto in positions to have success," Botterill told NHL reporter Heather Engel. "And, yeah, he wants to win, we also want to put him in a situation where he plays very well."
According to Vogl, Ristolainen is planning to work on his defensive-zone game
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In a recent article, Vogl says after bringing in Brandon Montour, Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju , there's no longer any reason Ristolainen has to play 26 minutes a night, often against elite players. This may be exactly what the young defenseman needs to get his game back on track.
