Miscellaneous: The Ontario native has spent his entire career with the Dallas Stars organization. After being drafted in 2011, the 26-year-old played three years with Texas of the AHL. He made his NHL debut in 2014-15, suiting up for 31 games with 12 points (six goals, three assists).
Ritchie split time between Dallas and the AHL in 2015-16, before playing his first full NHL campaign in 2016-17, during which he set career highs with 16 goals and 24 points in 78 games, as well as a plus-11 rating. He played 71 games in 2017-18 (14 points).
"Obviously it has been a little up and down," said Ritchie, whose brother Nick plays for the Anaheim Ducks. "I was given an opportunity a couple years ago with a little more ice time and I was able to sort of take off with that. I think that was more of the style [to expect] - whenever I've been given the opportunity, I've been an effective player. There's no reason in my mind why that can't transpire again."
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound winger played in 53 games last season, notching six points (four goals, two assists) to go along with 57 penalty minutes. He played in just one postseason game.
"It definitely gives you a lot of fire," Ritchie said of being a healthy scratch at times last season. "You want to play…obviously you want to be in the lineup and be contributing to the team. The ultimate goal is to win the Cup. There's nothing fun about not playing those games."
Scouting Report: A right-shot winger with plenty of size that has shown the ability to score at the NHL level, as evidenced by his 16-goal campaign two years ago. Ritchie, who has seen time as the net-front on the power play, says most of his goals come from "the 15-foot circle around the net…a lot of them are rebounds around the net, driving the net getting a stick on it…a lot of stuff in tight."
He also isn't afraid of throwing his weight around. Ritchie was third on the Stars in hits per game (2.4) in 2018-19 and has seven career NHL fights.
"I'm never going to stray away from my game. That's always going to be a part of it," said Ritchie. "I don't think there's ever going to be a time where you're gonna think I'm not trying to be physical on purpose. That's something I try to bring night in and night out. It's something that makes me an effective player and it's something I'll continue to do."
