This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Rasmus Ristolainen
Philadelphia Flyers Defense
Twelve seasons, 776 games, a career minus-179, and the 64th percentile of chances in 63 games.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | BUF | 34 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -15 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 3.9 | 19:07 |
| 2014-15 | BUF | 78 | 8 | 12 | 20 | -32 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 121 | 6.6 | 20:37 |
| 2015-16 | BUF | 82 | 9 | 32 | 41 | -21 | 33 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 202 | 4.5 | 25:17 |
| 2016-17 | BUF | 79 | 6 | 39 | 45 | -9 | 58 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 186 | 3.2 | 26:28 |
| 2017-18 | BUF | 73 | 6 | 35 | 41 | -25 | 48 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 182 | 3.3 | 26:30 |
| 2018-19 | BUF | 78 | 5 | 38 | 43 | -41 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 182 | 2.8 | 24:38 |
| 2019-20 | BUF | 69 | 6 | 27 | 33 | -2 | 46 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 128 | 4.7 | 22:48 |
| 2020-21 | BUF | 49 | 4 | 14 | 18 | -18 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 5.5 | 22:17 |
| 2021-22 | PHI | 66 | 2 | 14 | 16 | -9 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 2.1 | 21:26 |
| 2022-23 | PHI | 74 | 3 | 17 | 20 | -4 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 86 | 3.5 | 19:01 |
| 2023-24 | PHI | 31 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 2.2 | 16:41 |
| 2024-25 | PHI | 63 | 4 | 15 | 19 | +3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100 | 4.0 | 20:31 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 776 | 56 | 248 | 304 | -179 | 383 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 1455 | 3.9 | 22:39 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
4 goals and 15 assists in 63 games — 19 points at 20:31 a night, plus-3, with only 14 penalty minutes.
51.3 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five, the 64th percentile. His ice went 34-54 against an expectation of 39.58-37.57 — sixteen goals conceded above expectation, on a pairing that was winning the chances. He missed a quarter of the season, which has become the pattern.
The Finesse Game
100 attempts at a median of 45 feet with 61 per cent from beyond 40, converting at 4 per cent. The shot is heavy and it is a point shot.
He was a 45-point defenceman in Buffalo playing twenty-six minutes a night on bad hockey teams. The offence has been coached out of him deliberately and the club is better for it: 15 assists in a defensive role is a fair return.
The Physical Game
6-4 and 208 and among the heaviest hitters in the league when he is healthy. He finishes checks hard, he clears his crease, and he is very difficult to move from in front of his own net.
14 penalty minutes in 63 games at twenty minutes a night is a remarkably low rate for a player with this reputation, and it is the strongest evidence that the game has been simplified for him successfully.
The Intangibles
Eighth overall in 2013 and 776 games with a career minus-179, which is one of the largest in the league and is a fact about eight seasons in Buffalo.
He is 30, on a long contract, and he has played 63, 31 and 74 games in the last three seasons. The body is the question.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,083 minutes
- Expected goals
- 51.3%
- 65th pct
- Shot attempts
- 49%
- 42nd pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 34 for, 54 against. Expected: 39.6 and 37.6.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 35 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 637 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 69 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 1083 minutes at five-on-five
- Egor Zamula40%
- Nick Seeler16%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- PHI took 52.1% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 51.3% — 0.8 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Third pair, 1,083 minutes at five-on-five — 73rd percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egor Zamula | 56.7% | 47.5% | 52.7% |
| Travis Konecny | 49.5% | 52.1% | 50.8% |
| Sean Couturier | 48.9% | 52.3% | 53.2% |
56.7% together, 47.5% for him apart and 52.7% for Zamula apart. Both were worse apart, so whatever the two of them had together was doing real work.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
137 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 4 of them goals. His median goal came from 32 feet. 10% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 61% from beyond forty.