Rasmus Ristolainen's very nice week

[sabills]

Fancy stat writer Travis Yost (sp?) tweeted some weirdly unflattering (I think?) fancy stat about Risto yesterday. Something about the # of SOGs per 60 PK minutes surrendered when he's on the ice killing a penalty. It was 125 or so. Which is god awful, apparently.

 

Not sure if that was meant as a commentary on Gorges, though.

 

Its been a running theme on Sabres Twitter and WGR this year that Risto has weirdly bad fancy-stats. No one is really sure why. Defensive partner certainly plays a part, though.

[Eleven]

(Maybe Bylsma has a good system for stopping McDavid...)

 

Maybe he does.  I'm certainly not going to say that he gets everything wrong.

[K-9]

When Gorges comes back and DDB puts him back with Risto, how mad are you going to be?

Georges was paired with Franson in his last couple games before injury, no? Perhaps DD saw the light.

[TrueBlueGED]

Fancy stat writer Travis Yost (sp?) tweeted some weirdly unflattering (I think?) fancy stat about Risto yesterday. Something about the # of SOGs per 60 PK minutes surrendered when he's on the ice killing a penalty. It was 125 or so. Which is god awful, apparently.

 

Not sure if that was meant as a commentary on Gorges, though.

Well, our PK is poop, so I'm not shocked. But whether that's due to Risto is an entirely different question. I tend to lean more towards Grant being out there instead of someone like Girgensons. But I also think it's the PK strategy we employ: pretty passive, allowing volume of shots against.

 

That said, I always find it amusing when fancystats people take the biggest advantage to shot metrics (sample size) and cut it down to such a fine level that it obliterates said advantage.

[MattPie]

Well, our PK is poop, so I'm not shocked. But whether that's due to Risto is an entirely different question. I tend to lean more towards Grant being out there instead of someone like Girgensons. But I also think it's the PK strategy we employ: pretty passive, allowing volume of shots against.

 

That said, I always find it amusing when fancystats people take the biggest advantage to shot metrics (sample size) and cut it down to such a fine level that it obliterates said advantage.

 

I was thinking that; PK shots per 60 might sum up the entire season up to now.

[WildCard]

Biggest problem with the PK is that we've stopped being aggressive on the zone entry

[That Aud Smell]

That said, I always find it amusing when fancystats people take the biggest advantage to shot metrics (sample size) and cut it down to such a fine level that it obliterates said advantage.

 

Meaning that PK SOG are a small sample size? Just trying to follow along.

[dudacek]

PK sucks without Gorges on the ice. ????

Edited December 7, 2016 by dudacek

[TrueBlueGED]

Meaning that PK SOG are a small sample size? Just trying to follow along.

Yea. I mean, how many minutes this year has the team even spent PKing? It'd be like trying to draw conclusions about ES play based on 3 games.

[pi2000]

Risto has been good, I'm happy with his development this season.

 

However.. (here it comes, haha).... he is still a minus player (-5).    He's a -5 through about 1/3 of the season which puts him in the -15 range for the year, which is a slight improvement from -21 a year ago.    

 

He still gets panicky when things break down around his own net, and doesn't make the best decisions with the puck when under pressure.   I'm hoping those things improve with experience.    

 

I will say that his skating looks better this season, he's more explosive and quicker getting on pucks.   He uses his large frame well to shield off defenders.     

[MattPie]

Yea. I mean, how many minutes this year has the team even spent PKing? It'd be like trying to draw conclusions about ES play based on 3 games.

 

If there are 4 PKs per game (let's go with that) and Risto plays half of each on average, that's like 3-4 minutes per game. So to date, like 100 minutes.

[Samson's Flow]

If there are 4 PKs per game (let's go with that) and Risto plays half of each on average, that's like 3-4 minutes per game. So to date, like 100 minutes.

So 5 games (20min per) instead of 3 games? Still a small sample size.

[spndnchz]

Risto's goin' down as the best D man in Sabres history me thinks.

[MattPie]

So 5 games (20min per) instead of 3 games? Still a small sample size.

 

The stat is per 60 minutes, I think, so it's just an odd stat. It'd probably more more sense to do per two minutes or something, but even then it's still a strange stat.

[North Buffalo]

Risto's goin' down as the best D man in Sabres history me thinks.

Can't argue that one. He has the dreaded potential, size, shot, offensive accuem and defensive nasty to do so. Shoeney the only one close on both O and D. But Risto has higher O potential. Housley best O Defenseman would take a lot to overcome that talent. Overall though Risto has the best combo of skills since Shoney.

[GASabresIUFAN]

People said similar things about Myers.

 

Maybe the best solution long-term for the PK and Risto's minutes is to get a couple of good defensive defenseman who can play the PK instead of Risto.

Edited December 7, 2016 by GASabresIUFAN

[That Aud Smell]

Risto's goin' down as the best D man in Sabres history me thinks.

 

Different era, different player, etc., but Risto's got a tall order if he wants to surpass Mike Ramsey.

 

Here's to him doing it!

 

The stat is per 60 minutes, I think, so it's just an odd stat. It'd probably more more sense to do per two minutes or something, but even then it's still a strange stat.

 

Good point.

[dudacek]

 

However.. (here it comes, haha).... he is still a minus player (-5).    He's a -5 through about 1/3 of the season which puts him in the -15 range for the year, which is a slight improvement from -21 a year ago.    

 

   

 

But at least he's better than Pietrangelo, Subban, Klingberg, Leddy, Goligoski, Faulk, Ekblad, Reilly, Hanifan, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester and way better than Tyson Barrie, though right?

 

Risto's goin' down as the best D man in Sabres history me thinks.

 

Me too, but he ain't got much of a challenge

[That Aud Smell]

Different era, different player, etc., but Risto's got a tall order if he wants to surpass Mike Ramsey.

Me too, but he ain't got much of a challenge

 

Hush yo mouth.

[sabills]

Hush yo mouth.

 

But its really Mike Ramsey and that's it, right? Who's second best? Housley?

 

I took a look through all time Sabres D-men for this very discussion on twitter this morning, and I didn't come up with much. My dad will tell you about Schoenfeld and Korab, but there's not a lot of names in the discussion for "All-Time Best Sabres Defenseman".

[LGR4GM]

If Risto plays 15 years here and is a multiple year all star and wins a cup for Buffalo all while being a point getting machine and relatively good on defense, than yes. 

[JJFIVEOH]

He's had a decent career up to this point, with an excellent last two weeks. It's two weeks. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

[Randall Flagg]

But at least he's better than Pietrangelo, Subban, Klingberg, Leddy, Goligoski, Faulk, Ekblad, Reilly, Hanifan, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester and way better than Tyson Barrie, though right?

 

 

Me too, but he ain't got much of a challenge

Nice +/- jab lol

[Randall Flagg]

The stats guys that write in Toronto and spent the past two seasons bashing Risto for CF% should probably note that he's 52% with McCabe and 55% with Kulikov. And that context like that matters. 

 

Edited December 7, 2016 by Randall Flagg

[Thorny]

It's amazing how much better he looks paired with McCabe than Gorges (and it's not like he was bad with Gorges). We're talking true #1D, not "well there are 30 teams and he's our #1, therefore he's a #1" type reasoning. How many Dmen would you rather have right now? List isn't too long, and it's shrinking. Long term? That list is even shorter.

And just think: he's only 22, and d-men tend to have a longer NHL development curve. He's going to be a great one.