Montreal Canadiens Rumour: Marc Bergevin Raring for Ristolainen

Shea Weber, the Montreal Canadiens captain and minute muncher on the blueline is guaranteed to be out for a long while, and the big question right now is how to replace that kind of production and leadership from the back end. Now, for the last season the offence hasn’t been there for Weber, but he is still an imposing presence in front of the net. Well, apparently Marc Bergevin may have found his answer.

Let me introduce you to Rasmus Ristolainen. Is the rambunctious, rapscallion replacement Rasmus Ristolainen ready to step into the monstrous moccasins of the Man-Mountain?

That get your attention? Good, now lets come back down to Earth and have a laugh at those in the comments that read only the first paragraph. Rasmus Ristolainen is not Shea Weber, not even close. But the beauty part of Montreal’s defensive system is that they don’t need another Shea Weber. When you have Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson playing along with Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki with Carey Price hopefully backing them up.

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Dominique Ducharme proved that he can set up a dandy defensive system, and Ristolainen would not be asked to shoulder much of the defensive weight. He would hopefully fill in a second pairing role, third if Alexander Romanov can step up to a top 4 role. If the Kraken don’t take Price, the odds are that they will take Cale Fleury or Brett Kulak, which will take a hit on Montreal’s defensive depth.

Montreal has had immense luck on the injury front, which seems to have changed with Weber’s injury news, but that luck can and will run out sometime. Without Fleury or Kulak, you would be asking an unproven player like Josh Brooks or Kaiden Guhle, who might not be ready for a major role in the big leagues. That is where a guy like Ristolainen that can play up and down the lineup comes in.

Not that you would really like Ristolainen playing high in the lineup. On an admittedly terrible Buffalo Sabres team, Ristolainen has not finished a year with a positive +/-, his worst year being 2018-19, where he finished -42. He isn’t bad offensively, never scoring more than 10 goals in a season, but has four 40 point seasons. This year, Ristolainen was paired with Mattias Samuelsson at times, a rookie, and finished with 4 goals and 18 points. But no one was good in Buffalo last year.

This is all a roundabout way of saying, why does Bergevin want Ristolainen? Because he certainly does. Pierre LeBrun reported that Montreal has some interest in trading for Ristolainen, who is under contract for one more year in Buffalo and was one of the three protected d-men (with Rasmus Sandin and Henri Jokiharju).

The other team that is interested is the Winnipeg Jets, who are looking for any help they can get on the back end. According to LeBrun, the asking price is a first round pick and a prospect, but that is frankly ridiculous, especially with Ristolainen making $5.4 million next year. Yeah, he makes $5.4 mill. Buffalo is going to have to eat some of that money at least. I could see maybe a second or third round pick and a lower grade prospect, depending on how much money Buffalo retains.

He could fill a similar niche as Erik Gustafsson, where he is okay in a very sheltered role. He is a big physical presence at 6’4″ 221 pounds, he can play hard on the opposition. And for only one year, he could be jettisoned off at the trade deadline, or not resigned in the next offseason. He is a short term fix to an hopefully short term problem. Hopefully, Weber can return late this coming year, or the next year. If not, then Montreal can look into a more permanent solution on the blueline.

This is all speculation for what could only be speculation. There is no proof that Montreal will trade for Ristolainen, but it might not be all bad. Montreal is a strong defensive team, and while Ristolainen is not the best defensively, he can skate and move the puck with some confidence. It would not be all bad if Montreal would trade for Ristolainen, but we will see what happens.

For a short term replacement, you could do worse. You could do a lot better, but you could do worse. And its clear that Ristolainen is on the market and get-able. And Bergevin has nothing but a go get ’em attitude.