Rumor: Leafs Interested in Ristolainen?

Ostensibly, the rebuild is still on in Philadelphia. Now, I could quibble about what a rebuild actually means and how faithfully they’re living up to that definition. Eventually, I intend to. But the plan is allegedly still to rebuild, and that inevitably means more players heading out the door. One potential candidate? Rasmus Ristolainen.

As I reported on Tuesday and EF alludes to here, #LeafsForever are believed to have interest in Rasmus Ristolainen. #flyers https://t.co/RluytYpyOm

— Anthony Di Marco (@ADiMarco25) December 7, 2023

That the Leafs are interested in Ristolainen should be of no surprise to anyone. The Maple Leafs are perpetually looking for new ways to “get harder to play against.”

They’re looking to advance further in the playoffs, and, as we all know, “playoff Risto” is a mythical creature on par with the mythical fighters of the UFC like “sea-level Cain Velasquez.”

To make him even more tempting, he received basic coaching—evidently—for the first time in his life and began producing very good defensive results on the ice. He limits expected goals and actual goals…And he’s “hard to play against?”

Oh, yeah. Toronto is head over heels.

The only question is how they make the cap space work. They only have that problem for this season, though. Soon enough, a lot of their expiring deals come off the books. Perhaps the Flyers can absorb the hits of deals like Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg to make the money work?

Either way, after this summer, the Leafs will be able to resign superstar William Nylander AND take on Risto’s $5M cap hit. With room to spare. So the return? It could be fairly significant. We traded pick #14 to get him when he was MUCH worse and making only slightly less money.

Mandatory Credit: Yong Kim / Staff Photographer for Inquirer