By Jourdon LaBarber – Sabres.com (@JourdonLaBarber)
Rasmus Ristolainen has already worn the Finnish sweater a number of times, most notably when he scored the winning goal in overtime for his home country in the Gold Medal game at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship.
But that didn’t make it any less special to find out about his involvement in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
“It’s always a pleasure,” Ristolainen said after practice on Wednesday. “It’s a huge tournament and all the best players are there so it’s going to be exciting.”
With roster announcements for the inaugural tournament coming throughout the day, Ristolainen became the first Buffalo Sabre to have earned a spot when Team Finland released its preliminary roster on Wednesday morning.
Ristolainen, 21, has evolved into a top-pair defenseman for the Sabres this season, third on the team with 39 points (8+27) and averaging a team-high 25:20 of ice time per game.
“It’s deserved,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “I’m real happy for him. He’s a young player coming into his own this year. He’s stepped from being a younger player to being a full-time legitimate NHL player and I think it shows in his selection.”
For as much as he’s improved, however, Ristolainen hasn’t been satisfied with his game as of late. He hasn’t scored a goal since Jan. 12, and Bylsma suggested that attempting to do too much offensively may have detracted from his defense in recent weeks.
“It’s not there where it should be,” Ristolainen said. “Start of the year was good, and of course everyone wants to be better and better and go play better all the time, but I am not playing at the level right now I want to play [at]. We have 18 games left so I want to have a good end for the year.”
The Sabres have other hopefuls for the tournament. Jack Eichel is a likely candidate to make Team North America – a collection of North American players under age 23 – while Sam Reinhart may also draw consideration, as could Ryan O’Reilly for Team Canada and Zemgus Girgensons for Team Europe.
The tournament begins on Sept. 17, and all games will be played at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Despite the fact that the timing of the tournament will take cause some of his players to miss time in Training Camp, Bylsma spoke in support of the even on Wednesday.
“I think this is probably the best place for it to be, is in September,” Bylsma said. “I think probably the best time for the guys to get together and be a part of a national team, a World Cup team and having the best players in the world competing against each other … I think it’s an awesome showcase.”
UPDATE (5:15 p.m.) – Eichel has been named to the North American preliminary roster.
(Reprinted with permission of the Buffalo Sabres)
