VOORHEES, N.J. – If there’s one player on the Flyers who won’t be rattled by trade rumors, it’s defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
Although the towering defenseman has been mentioned a number of times in the lead-up to Friday’s NHL trade deadline, he doesn’t appear fazed at all.
One gets the sense he wants to stay with the Flyers but he was already traded once before from Buffalo and he knows this is a business.
Coach John Tortorella confirmed after Monday’s practice that the native of Finland stays even-keeled both on and off the ice.
“When the deadline comes, I think I owe it to the players that I meet with the team and tell them if they have any questions they should ask me where they stand,” the coach said. “I think we owe the players that respect.
“We ask them to do stuff all year-long. (With a possible trade). . .their family might have to move, all the rumors going around. I want them to be able to come to me and ask a question.”
Well, in Ristolainen’s case, the reaction was somewhat predictable.
“I went to ‘Risto’ and I said, ‘anything for me?’ He said, ‘I don’t want anything. I just want to play.’ And that’s the way he plays. I don’t think Risto gets enough respect out here. He just plays. There’s not a lot of talk. He just plays and like I said, I think he’s our most improved player.”
After this season, Ristolainen has two years at $5.1-million per season remaining on his contract. Given his talent level and the fact the salary cap keeps going up, Ristolainen might even be a bargain right now. That could make him an even more attractive trade target.
If Ristolainen is bound for a new address, he’s trying not to let it weigh on his mind. He’s been through this before as a Flyer.
“It’s not the first time,” he concurred. “It’s one of those things I can’t really control. I really haven’t bothered my mind with it. I just come in every day and work hard.”
On social media, the hockey participants are mostly singing Ristolainen’s praises and don’t want to see him traded.
“I don’t really know what they talk about,” Ristolainen confessed.
Ristolainen has been in the NHL a dozen years and played in 771 regular-season games. But he’s never had a sniff of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
With the Flyers making a late surge, perhaps that ignominious streak will come to an end.
“I do believe in this locker room,” Ristolainen said. “We’re a very tight group. Obviously after the (4 Nations Face-Off) break we’ve been playing some really good hockey. We’ve been able to win some points. I believe we can keep going and make the push.”
>No guarantees for Fedotov
Just because backup goalie Ivan Fedotov played perhaps his best game of the season in a 2-1 win at Winnipeg on Saturday night doesn’t mean he’s going to see an uptick in playing time.
“No, ‘Ers’ (Sam Ersson) is our number one,” Tortorella said. “When we think it’s time for him (Fedotov) to play, he’ll play. But to force-feed it? No. Ersson is our No. 1.”
>Pelletier to see the old gang
Jakob Pelletier, who came over in last month’s trade from Calgary along with Andrei Kuzmenko, gets a chance to face his old club when the Flames visit the Flyers on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Asked if there will be anything special about playing his old team, Pelletier just shook his head.
“I just want to win the game,” he said. “It’s a huge game for them, a huge game for us if we want to make the playoffs.
“It’s going to be a little bit weird. But at the same time it’s going to give me a boost. In a way, it’s just like playing Winnipeg. You want to come out on top. There were guys on the team (Calgary) I teased when I was there so this won’t be any different. I think I’ll have more energy to play.”
