Report: Flyers' Ristolainen garnering 'a ton of interest'

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is drawing "a ton of interest" from other NHL clubs, TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Tuesday's edition of "Insider Trading."

Dreger added that the Flyers continue to get calls on forward Scott Laughton, but the Metropolitan Division squad doesn't want to trade him. So that would likely cost other teams a high draft pick, a top young prospect, or an NHLer if those talks were to continue closer to the March 7 deadline.

Ristolainen is in his fourth season with the Flyers after spending his first eight with the Buffalo Sabres. He's under contract through 2026-27 with a $5.1-million cap hit.

The 30-year-old is playing in Philadelphia's top four while averaging 20:35 of ice time in 2024-25, but he's mustered a mere one goal and four assists in 22 games while authoring subpar underlying numbers.

The Flyers have controlled only 43.8% of the expected goals with the Finnish blue-liner on the ice at five-on-five this season, and just 44.52% of the scoring chances in the same situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Ristolainen produced at least 40 points for four straight campaigns with Buffalo from 2015-16 to 2018-19. He also used to log heavy workloads, averaging more than 26 minutes of ice time in both 2016-17 and 2017-18 while skating 25:42 per night over the aforementioned four-year span.

However, both his offensive production and ice time have decreased in the subsequent seasons. He's failed to notch more than 20 points in a campaign since 2019-20 when he collected 33, including 27 assists. He's averaging 20:46 in the last five-plus seasons including that one.

Ristolainen was limited to 31 games in 2023-24 due to multiple injuries. He signed a five-year extension with the Flyers in March 2022. The Sabres traded him there in July 2021.

The Flyers reportedly gauged trade interest in Laughton in February.

Philadelphia is tied with the New York Islanders for the second-worst points percentage (.477) in the division. The Flyers are 9-10-3.