Ristolainen not sure when he'll play hockey again; 'Right now, I just sleep most of the time'

Defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen seemed somewhat reinvigorated with he started the season with the Buffalo Sabres. Despite the team's poor showing so far, Ristolainen had two goals and six points in 10 games while remaining a plus-2. He was also averaging close to 24 minutes of ice-time per game. All that came to a screeching halt, though when he was placed on COVID-19 protocol on February 2nd, with the Buffalo Sabres temporarily suspending play due to an outbreak of the Corona virus. Ristolainen tells Ilta-Sanomat in his home country of Finland that he has suffered severe complications after contracting COVID-19 and has no idea when he'll play again.

"Sometimes there were quite disturbed states of being," said Ristolainen. "When there was chest pain, it felt like my heart was cracking as I walked up the stairs. A couple of evenings there were such conditions when I went to bed that I didn't know if I would wake up in the morning."

Ristolainen went on to say that he's now testing negative for COVID, but the complications remain.

"I got a clean bill of health from doctors, but I'm physically at the moment so weak that there is still a long way to get to playing condition," said Ristolainen.

"Right now, I just sleep most of the time," he added. "I go to bed at eight in the evenings. After a 12-hour night's sleep, I feel like I have slept for five minutes."

Despite how he's currently feeling, Ristolainen said there's some hope he could get back to playing as early as next week, but there's no guarantee. He said the weakness and lethargy have been extremely difficult to overcome, adding the disease is pretty serious.

"Frustrating situation, but I haven't gone through the easiest before," said Ristolainen.

As for Buffalo, they could use all the help they can get. After a 3-1 loss to Washington Thursday, the team is now 4-7-2 on the season and shows very little signs of getting better any time soon.

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