The Philadelphia Flyers’ 2026 trade deadline came and went without the team moving top trade chip, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
Coming into the trade deadline on Friday afternoon, Rasmus Ristolainen was a very popular name rumored to be traded. The reported asking price was similar to the Brandon Carlo deal last year, which netted the Boston Bruins a first-round pick, a middle-round pick, and a decent prospect. According to multiple sources, no team was willing to meet the Flyers’ rumored asking price for the 31-year-old defenseman.
It’s looking more and more likely – barring a trade during the offseason – that Ristolainen will be a Flyer for the 2026-27 season.
Flyers GM Briere comments on not trading Ristolainen
General manager Danny Briere held a press conference discussing the happenings post-trade deadline and was asking what went into deciding to keep Ristolainen.
He chuckled, “You guys made a big story out of it. I didn’t know I was trying to sell him. You guys make it sound like we were dumping Risto for next to nothing.”
He went on.
“Look at the end of the day, Risto has a lot of value to our team. I wasn’t trying to dump Risto, I wasn’t trying to get rid of him. I think the media turned it into a little bit of a circus…” said the Flyers general manager.
“The reality is that Risto is an important part of our defense. He’s still under contract for next season, so we weren’t looking to dump him. Where do you find 6-foot-4, physical, top-four, right-shot defensemen? There’s not a lot, and we saw it on the market, and yes, when that came out, I did get a lot of calls, and we did take them seriously. We went through all the teams that were serious, but at the end of the day, it did not make sense value-wise. There’s nothing that made more sense to trade him for what he brings.”
Briere then went on to talk about what Ristolainen brings to the team.
“Risto is an important leader in our room. I can promise you that our guys prefer having him on our side than playing against him. He’s the type of defenseman that brings guys to the fight because he runs around and hits guys, and pisses off the opponents. There’s a lot of value to that. At the end of the day, we listened, but it made more sense to have Risto with us.”
He was asked about whether or not keeping Risto on the team might act as a roadblock for our young right-hand defensemen prospects, Oliver Bonk and newly acquired David Jiricek.
“When they’re ready, we’re going to make room for them. A little bit like the Bobby Brink trade, we feel guys are almost there, and we’re trying to make a little bit of room. It’s the same thing. I can’t say that David (Jiricek) and Oliver Bonk are ready today to come in, especially in a top-four position. It’s one thing to come in a bottom pairing, but they haven’t even done that yet. I think they need a little bit more time, and we need to protect them a little bit. You ask those two young guys to come in and play – I mean, Risto is playing top pairing with Sanheim right now – I don’t think it would be fair to ask David or Oliver to play those minutes yet. We hope that at one point it comes to that, but I don’t think they’re ready for that role yet. Risto has shown since he has come back that he can handle those minutes. He’s shown at the Olympics as well, how valuable he can be for a team, so we hope that they can get there, but we want to protect them as well along the way.”
Danny was then asked if there was ever a first-round pick offered for Ristolainen and decided to not offer up that crucial detail.
“I don’t like discussing that, I don’t think it’s fair for the other teams either to start putting stuff out there. All I can tell you is that the value wasn’t as high as we needed it to be for us moving forward.”
It seems like none of the rumored teams met the Flyers’ rumored asking price for Ristolainen, and – according to Danny Briere – they weren’t very interested in moving him in the first place.
This move — or lack thereof — caused quite the stir on social media, with fans voicing plenty of frustration over the decision to keep the 6-foot-4 physical defenseman, but at the end of the day, Ristolainen is here to stay — whether fans agree with it or not.
