Rasmus Ristolainen (born 27 October 1994) is a

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professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

for the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He was selected eighth overall by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

in the

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Playing career

Ristolainen made his NHL debut with the

on the opening night of the 2013–14 season, on 2 October 2013, against the Detroit Red Wings. He scored his first career NHL goal later in the month, on 25 October against Jacob Markström of the Florida Panthers. On 5 January 2014, Ristolainen scored the overtime winner in

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of the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships against previously undefeated Sweden, giving

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the gold medal. He scored his first NHL

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 10 December 2015 against the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

. In so doing, he became the first Sabres' defenceman to score a hat-trick since Hockey Hall of Famer

Phil Housley Phillip Francis Housley (born March 9, 1964) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He most recently served an assistant coach for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2019 to 2022. Housley was th ...

did so in the 1987–88 season. On 21 March 2017, Ristolainen delivered a check to

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

forward Jake Guentzel. Guentzel suffered a concussion on the play, and Ristolainen was given a three-game suspension for interference by the league. On 23 July 2021, Ristolainen was traded by the Sabres to the

in exchange for Robert Hägg, a

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first-round pick and a

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second-round pick. On 10 March 2022, he signed a five-year contract extension with the Flyers.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1994 births Living people Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Finnish ice hockey defencemen HC TPS players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Rochester Americans players Sportspeople from Turku {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub