Rasmus Ristolainen provides top-tier value in many multicategory league setups.

The Buffalo Sabres aren’t very good. They haven’t been for quite some time, last making the playoffs in 2011. However, over the last few years the Sabres have had many impactful players for fantasy hockey. Evander Kane has always puts up good peripherals, while Jack Eichel is quickly becoming one of the most dynamic players in the game. But the true fantasy star of the Sabres isn’t Kane, Eichel, or even Ryan O’Reilly. Rasmus Ristolainen may take a lot of criticism for his real-life play, but in the fantasy world, he’s one of the most valuable skaters out there.

Two years ago, Ristolainen burst onto the scene with a 41-point performance. Despite only being 21 years old, Ristolainen played big minutes for the Sabres and assumed control of the blueline, averaging over 25 minutes of icetime. His only fault was his plus/minus, as it was a terrible minus-21 that year. But besides that, Ristolainen did a little bit of everything for fantasy owners, racking up goals, assists, power-play points and much more. And in the following year (last season), Ristolainen even managed to up his point totals while improving his plus/minus, finishing the year with 45 points in 79 games.

But how much fantasy value did Ristolainen provide? Using our Fantasy Hockey Geek tool, we can see the impact Ristolainen had. For our sample league, we’ll be using an average 12-team H2H Yahoo league measuring G, A, PPP, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, and SO.

While he doesn’t carry the name value that Connor McDavid or Erik Karlsson have, Ristolainen actually provided very similar worth, being the sixth-ranked player out of all skaters in our sample league. With the 15^th most points by any defender, Ristolainen’s 45 points represented a new career-high for the young defenseman. Not to mention his 25 power-play points were good for the fourth most in the league by any defenseman (17^th overall by all skaters). Combine that with his impressive shot and hit totals and it’s no wonder why Ristolainen is so valuable. His 186 shots were good for the 13^th most by any defender, while his 195 hits were the 25^th most in the NHL (ninth most by all defenders). And that’s not even mentioning some of his other categories that weren’t counted in our sample league. His plus/minus wasn’t too bad (minus-9), but his 161 blocked shots were tied for the 13^th most in the NHL while his 58 penalty minutes were the 30^th most by any defender. Only two defenders that had more penalty minutes than him had more points (Dougie Hamilton and Dustin Byfuglien).

So it’s established that Ristolainen was a beast last year for almost any fantasy category (minus plus/minus). But can we expect him to repeat it? Considering he’ll only be 23 years old and is still top dog in Buffalo, if anything we should expect Ristolainen to improve. And Dobber’s projections for him next year are pretty encouraging.

While Ristolainen is projected to fall a bit in terms of overall value, he’s still ranked as the 15^th most valuable skater, ahead of the likes of Jamie Benn, Drew Doughty, and Steven Stamkos. His power-play points are projected to decline a little, but his overall point totals are actually expected to increase, as Ristolainen’s projected to score around 49 points while still putting up good peripherals.

Even though Ristolainen isn’t one of the biggest defenseman names in fantasy hockey like Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns, he sure does provide value like them. And at a lower average draft position, Ristolainen can make a great bargain for your team, as he’s likely able to provide a ton of value in almost any league.