Rasmus Ristolainen (born 27 October 1994) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the

2013 NHL Entry Draft The 2013 NHL Entry Draft was the 51st NHL Entry Draft. All seven rounds of the draft took place on June 30, 2013, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The top three selections were Nathan MacKinnon going to the Colorado Avalanche, Alek ...

Playing career

Ristolainen made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres on the opening night of the 2013–14 season, on 2 October 2013, against the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. He scored his first career NHL goal later in the month, on 25 October against

Jacob Markström Jacob Anders Markström (born 31 January 1990) is a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender and plays for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League. He was selected by the Florida Panthers in the second round, 31st overall, of the 2008 ...

of the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. On 5 January 2014, Ristolainen scored the overtime winner in the final of the

2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (formerly called the IIHF U20 World Championship) was the 38th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship (WJHC), hosted in Malmö, Sweden. The 13,700-seat Malmö Arena was the main venue, ...

against previously undefeated

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, giving Finland the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

. He scored his first NHL hat-trick on 10 December 2015 against the Calgary Flames. In so doing, he became the first Sabres' defenceman to score a hat-trick since

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

r Phil Housley did so in the 1987–88 season. On 21 March 2017, Ristolainen delivered a check to Pittsburgh Penguins forward

Jake Guentzel Jake Guentzel (born October 6, 1994) is an American professional ice hockey left wing for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. He was drafted by the Penguins in the third round, 77th overall, in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Guent ...

. 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 Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Robert Hägg, a

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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