Brian Engblom during the Lightning broadcast the other day was praising him and also said that he thinks Risto's offensive game will begin to get going as he becomes comfortable in his role, and that the Flyersverse need to be patient with that.
- Bendecko

They need to stick him on the pp. He is better than most of the other ones they have been trying there.

With all the kids that were running and screaming. Didn’t realize risto played up with provie last game.


He has been adjusting and doing better lately. Where’s the analytics crew. Risto has some of the better numbers on the team for d men. How could this be?
- Peter Richards

Haven't watched a large part of the mins this season. To me he has looked better than I expected (Some other people who are not the "analytical nerds" here, like BiggE, MBFF, will disagree). Saw this post and checked the %s for the first time.

Analytically, Risto has indeed been the best Dman this year among Provy, Braun, Sanheim and himself (leaving Ellis out as he has barely played). Being the best though is not the same as being good. His important #s are all exactly at or around league average for D men in the league.

Perhaps you can argue that being average on a team with bad #s is actually better than being average. On the flip side, perhaps you can argue he is benefitting from being compared to players who are not doing great. Braun is a 3rd pairing guy. Provy is increasingly regressing to a below average status for a top pairing Dman when playing without a top notch partner. Sanheim has issues.

I just don't see the bright spot part from the #s. Maybe not seeing a dark spot is what you mean?

I think he the Flyers best defenseman to be honest, he was once again the most solid defender for the Flyers against Florida the other night. The problem is once in a while, at least 1 time per game, Risto makes really questionable decisions trying to take someone out when maybe he should stay back and defend. I will take these mishaps once in a while for what Risto brings overall, which really solid defense, good slot coverage, tons of board battles won and general intimidation of the other team!
- jd250

He's not close to the Flyers best defenseman. While it would be completely unfair to single him out as a player, he was horrendous in the previous two games against TB and Florida. Completely shellacked. A player who does what you say he does, does not loose the shot attempt battle or scoring chance battle as badly as it was when he was on the ice. He's mediocre.

Yes I know you can't buyout a player mid season. The rule is its 2/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is 26 or older at the time of the buyout which JVR clearly is. If the Flyers did buy JVR out this offseason they would save $2.4M overall and more importantly would gain $4.6M in cap space next season so Fletcher can make more deals.



- jd250

Even after I posted what the numbers would be in a buyout of JVR, you still got it wrong. No, you didn't know that you can't buy a player out during the season as you included an estimation of what JVR is owed for the rest of this season and next in your incorrect numbers of your previous post.

Yes I did, and I understand your point. I am just trying to understand why the ref staring right at the play did not call a penalty, there is no way he could have missed it, thus I wonder if his reasoning was it was a simple stick lift and thus not a penalty. I posted at the time it happened, before any one else, that I didn't understand why that was not a penalty because to me it clearly was.


Yes, I was hoping JVR would have a similar season to last season but clearly he isn't, thus as I stated currently he has no real trade value.
- jd250

How is it possible that you can't grasp that Farabee's stick was not simply lifted. It was knocked out of his hand and his stick flew 10 foot in the air!
This is as bad as your insistence that Allison was out for the season because they were thinking about surgery.

You stated basically that JVR is not capable of playing in the NHL. While during the Summer you stated that the Flyers would have no trouble trading JVR. So I guess sometime between the Summer and now, JVR lost the ability to play.

Your posts are a tsunami of incorrect and uninformed information.

Haven't watched a large part of the mins this season. To me he has looked better than I expected (Some other people who are not the "analytical nerds" here, like BiggE, MBFF, will disagree). Saw this post and checked the %s for the first time.

Analytically, Risto has indeed been the best Dman this year among Provy, Braun, Sanheim and himself (leaving Ellis out as he has barely played). Being the best though is not the same as being good. His important #s are all exactly at or around league average for D men in the league.

Perhaps you can argue that being average on a team with bad #s is actually better than being average. On the flip side, perhaps you can argue he is benefitting from being compared to players who are not doing great. Braun is a 3rd pairing guy. Provy is increasingly regressing to a below average status for a top pairing Dman when playing without a top notch partner. Sanheim has issues.

I just don't see the bright spot part from the #s. Maybe not seeing a dark spot is what you mean?
- PT21

So in other words, he's mediocre. Also have to consider that if you put him in Provorov's spot, he would not fair well. If you want to compare him to Provorov. He's also no where near as good as Ellis but he has to actually play.
The results to this point is not what you give up a 1st,2nd and a player for. Nor do you sign a player of that caliber to a deal of 5 years or more and around 30M.

So in other words, he's mediocre. Also have to consider that if you put him in Provorov's spot, he would not fair well. If you want to compare him to Provorov. He's also no where near as good as Ellis but he has to actually play.
The results to this point is not what you give up a 1st,2nd and a player for. Nor do you sign a player of that caliber to a deal of 5 years or more and around 30M.
- MJL

Hold on....isn't PT on your list?

So in other words, he's mediocre. Also have to consider that if you put him in Provorov's spot, he would not fair well. If you want to compare him to Provorov. He's also no where near as good as Ellis but he has to actually play.
The results to this point is not what you give up a 1st,2nd and a player for. Nor do you sign a player of that caliber to a deal of 5 years or more and around 30M.
- MJL

There are 2 related but separate questions:

1. Is Risto a decent player?
2. Did we overpay for Risto?

If you asked me this question after the trade, I would have said No and Yes. Currently, based on my limited viewing and look at small sample analytics, I would have to say Yes and Yes.

Now, it could be a small sample, and it could be skewed for many reasons, but unfortunately for me and fortunately for Flyers, as of now there is much more evidence guys like JD250, Landros2, were right and I was wrong about part 1.

That's just the way it goes sometimes.

There are 2 related but separate questions:

1. Is Risto a decent player?
2. Did we overpay for Risto?

If you asked me this question after the trade, I would have said No and Yes. Currently, based on my limited viewing and look at small sample analytics, I would have to say Yes and Yes.

Now, it could be a small sample, and it could be skewed for many reasons, but unfortunately for me and fortunately for Flyers, as of now there is much more evidence guys like JD250, Landros2, were right and I was wrong about part 1.

That's just the way it goes sometimes.
- PT21

They paid way too much to get him and his current salary and deal is not a great deal. It's not as bad as the JvR contract though. He is a serviceable 2nd pair defenseman that I think can still improve his game.

There are 2 related but separate questions:

1. Is Risto a decent player?
2. Did we overpay for Risto?

If you asked me this question after the trade, I would have said No and Yes. Currently, based on my limited viewing and look at small sample analytics, I would have to say Yes and Yes.

Now, it could be a small sample, and it could be skewed for many reasons, but unfortunately for me and fortunately for Flyers, as of now there is much more evidence guys like JD250, Landros2, were right and I was wrong about part 1.

That's just the way it goes sometimes.
- PT21

JD250 thinks that Ristolainen has played great and is one of the best defenseman in the NHL.

The way things are going with the Flyers, I’ll say no goal

Also everyone's talking coaches and players. The players are definitely putting work in - maybe not all but a lot of them are. Blocked shots is a nice statline to prove that point. The coaches are accountable as are the players, the problem is, the Flyers really don't have the proper talent / pedigree to really hang with a lot of teams in this league. The goaltending has been phenomenal. Farabee has to be playing in a fog or some other type of injury. Konecny has high-end skill but he's shut down more easily than not and hasn't been able to develop his game and adapt to offset that fact. Sanheim has not developed into the top pairing role some thought he had the potential for. Laughton is what he is - a serviceable bottom six player that unfortunately is stronger suited as a winger as opposed to a center. Yandle's goose is cooked and that was starting to become clear last season on a deep and talented Panthers squad. Lindblom has not been able to get back to his sterling form before his unfortunate diagnosis (it's amazing he's come so far, beating the disease, rehabbing, and getting back in to the lineup at all).

Very noticeable this season is a somewhat decline in the play of Sean Couturier, who's normally a solid player that does everything. He alongside his brothers have obviously had a rough go of it scoring at a ridiculous rate since their goal-scoring explosion in the first handful of games. It's good to see Carter Hart bounce back from last year but on team this lacking in talent and defense I'm worried he'll demand a trade to get out of this mess.

The Flyers are in a really tough place financially to try and fix these issues. The other tough part is this is a league that's really built on drafting high-end talent and looking at the Phantoms, boy are their cupboards dry. Trades and UFA signings are less likely to transform your team like in the times before the cap.

I'm not sure what the Flyers can do at this point. It's going to be a long season.