{"id":477631,"date":"2026-02-28T20:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/477631\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T20:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:35:31","slug":"rasmus-ristolainen-addresses-trade-buzz-ahead-of-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/477631\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasmus Ristolainen addresses trade buzz ahead of deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple NHL teams are expected to make major moves before the league\u2019s March 6 trade deadline, and as things stand, the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> may be one of them. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is in the fourth year of a five-year contract<\/a> worth $5.1 million annually, has emerged as one of the market’s most coveted assets.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old blueliner recently spoke out on the rumors, claiming that it was one thing about the game that he could not control.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, obviously, those are things that you really can’t control. You obviously try to do your part, get better every day, and what happens, happens,\u201d he said<\/a> per NHL.com.<\/p>\n

Through 21 games with Philadelphia this season, Ristolainen has registered six points (one goal, five assists) while averaging<\/a> 20:07 of ice time. With the NHL salary cap rising, his contract extending through 2026-27 is now viewed as less prohibitive to acquiring teams, especially considering the weak upcoming free-agent class.<\/p>\n

Ristolainen’s trade value skyrocketed following a dominant showing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Helping Team Finland secure a bronze medal, he played nearly 20 minutes a night, tallied three assists, took only two penalty minutes, and tied for a tournament-best plus-nine rating.<\/p>\n

Asked whether his stint in the Olympics gave him confidence for the future, Ristolainen had a positive response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope so. Obviously, I feel really confident about my game, so hopefully I can bring it here, and we have a good run here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The run has also led to heavy scouting presence in recent Flyers games, with the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings all linked as potential destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that’s why you play the game. You want to win. That’s where I feel I’m at my best. In the tournament (Olympics) it was nice to obviously play games that mean so much,\u201d he had said.<\/p>\n

For Ristolainen, a trade would finally offer him a chance to compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Despite playing 797 regular-season games over 13 NHL seasons, making him the longest-tenured active player without a postseason appearance, he has never tasted playoff hockey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple NHL teams are expected to make major moves before the league\u2019s March 6 trade deadline, and as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,107,1467,56,5205],"class_list":{"0":"post-477631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-rumors","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-philadelphiaflyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116150176390043002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}