For a third-straight offseason, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is anticipating major changes coming to the Buffalo Sabres.
The veteran defenseman was brutally honest during his end-of-season Zoom conference call on Monday after the Sabres finished the 2020-21 season in last place for the fourth time in eight years.
"We need more accountability here," Ristolainen said with the Buffalo media. "I understand how the year ended, we had a lot of guys injured and you don't really have the players. It was hard to sit guys or bench guys because there was really no one to put in the lineup."
The Sabres ended the 2020-21 campaign with an abysmal 15-34-7 record in a shortened 56-game season that featured the head coach being fired, a few more assets being traded ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline, and injuries that took players like captain Jack Eichel and defenseman Jake McCabe out of the lineup for longer periods of time.
In 2019, Ristolainen said during his end-of-season interview that he loved the city of Buffalo, but knew changes needed to be made. In 2020, Ristolainen had a feeling that if more changes were coming to the Sabres, he'd likely be one of the first players out the door.
This time around, Ristolainen let general manager Kevyn Adams know up-front whatever moves have to be made in the offseason, he'd be willing to accept.
"I'm open for all ideas," Ristolainen said. "Obviously the season just ended, so yeah, I'm, frustrated, I'm pissed and it sucks. I told him I'm open for all the scenarios. Staying or if he trades me, I'm fine with that."
There is no denying that Ristolainen has loved playing for the Sabres since he was drafted with the eighth overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. The 26-year-old has already played 542 career games in Buffalo, accounting for 46 goals and 199 assist for 245 points. However, the team has been incredibly bad during his time in Buffalo, going 215-333-78 in parts of eight seasons.
This past season, Ristolainen started the year off well playing on a defensive pairing with McCabe. However, after a severe bout with COVID-19, his play started to taper off a bit, and he ended the 2020-21 campaign with four goals and 14 assists for 18 points in 49 games.
After this much time spent with the Sabres and year-after-year of missed playoffs and misery, Ristolainen was honest in saying he doesn't know how much more losing he can take.
"I hope we makes moves and some signings. I don't know who's the coach next year, but when all those things happen, that for sure would give me confidence about next year," Ristolainen said. "The way the younger guys played this year towards the end of the year gives you confidence about the future, but for me, I can't go for another rebuild or wait multiple years. We have to get to [the] playoffs next year, and for me it's either here or hopefully then somewhere else."
When mentioning the younger players, Ristolainen really liked what interim head coach Don Granato brought to the table for the Sabres in the final 28 games of the regular season.
Despite saying that Ralph Krueger was one of the best coaches he had ever played for in hockey, the Sabres got the first half of the season off to a 6-18-4 start. On top of that, Krueger was fired at a time when the Sabres had lost 12-consecutive games.
When Granato took over coaching duties on an interim basis, the team finished 9-16-3 in 28 games. That may not seem like a massive turnaround, but the way the team responded overall with their play on a nightly basis told a completely different story.
"I feel like after 'Donnie' got here, more players were buying into his system, and I actually liked the way we trying to play, especially a lot of young guys on the team," Ristolainen said. "I think 'Donnie' did a lot of good for their individual confidence, so that got a lot of guys going."
Granato will likely lead an extensive list of coaching candidates to be the next full-time head coach of the Sabres going into the offseason. However, that decision is probably not going to weigh into Ristolainen's feelings towards next season all that much.
The veteran defenseman knows that whatever happens with him and/or the team this offseason, he will be ready for anything come puck drop at the start of the 2021-22 season.
"I'm not sure if the coach only would make me decide either way, but it helps if you know who's the coach. And obviously the moves I hope we're making in the summer helps," Ristolainen said. "I'm just going to take time and see how I feel, but I have one year left for my contract. If nothing happens, I'm back here to do anything I can to help this team."
In case you missed Ristolainen's end-of-season conference call, you can listen to it in its entirety below: