A Philadelphia Flyers defenseman is on the trade block and the Dallas Stars need some help on the blue line.

Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is potentially on the trade block, as calls from other teams have reportedly started to come in. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks have been confirmed to have inquired about the Finn but David Pagnotta of NHL Network has speculated that Dallas could enter the conversation.

It is unclear what the right-handed defenseman would cost, but the Flyers are willing to retain a portion of his salary, which might drive the cost up. And Stars general manager Jim Nill is not known to easily pay a high price during trade season. Ristolainen currently holds a cap hit of 5.1 million through the 2026-27 season.

Ristolainen was a longtime member of the Buffalo Sabres through the shortened 2021 season before signing a deal with the Flyers. Now in his 11th season, he has never been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs or finished on the positive side for +/- in a season.

At 6-foot-4 and 208 pounds, Ristolainen is a large defensive defenseman that can use his size to throw hits and be a net front presence. And even with his physicality, he has figured out how to play a clean game this year, only acquiring six penalty minutes thus far this season. He has struggled in previous seasons, but eyes across the league have noticed the improvement of his game this season.

Ristolainen missed the first two months of the season due to injury, so he has just hit the 30 game mark. In that time, he has only scored one goal and recorded four points. Starting in 2015-16, Ristolainen had four straight seasons of 40+ points, but hasn't had more than 20 points in the last four years.

He currently has 54 hits and 44 blocked shots, highlighting his physical role on the Flyers. Ristolainen's game seems to closely resemble Jani Hakanpaa's game, which the Stars arguably are looking to upgrade with any moves at the deadline. The other option would be to add him with Ryan Suter, taking Nils Lundkvist out of the lineup and adding significant size to that pairing. Any short attempts at a Hakanpaa-Suter pairing have not looked sustainable, however.

The Stars could use another big body, but someone who is more of a versatile puck mover who can trusted to be smart with the puck. Nine of Ristolainen's ten giveaways this season have been in the defensive zone. Zone exits and defensive puck posession is already a struggle this season, with countless examples of a failed clear resulting in a goal against. 

There is no doubt that the Stars need to add some depth on the blueline, but it does not appear that Ristolainen would bring the skills that the Stars should willingly pay a high price for. Since the emergence of Thomas Harley, things look more set on the blue line, but something like the recent abysmal showing on the penalty kill might change the plan for Nill as the deadline approaches.

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