{"id":37028,"date":"2025-08-01T08:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/37028\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T08:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:35:08","slug":"ritchie-eager-to-seize-opportunity-thats-there-with-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/37028\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritchie eager to seize \u2018opportunity that\u2019s there\u2019 with Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ritchie was acquired by the Islanders from the Avalanche one day prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6, along with defenseman Oliver Kylington<\/a>, a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a conditional third-round selection in the 2028 NHL Draft, for forwards Brock Nelson<\/a> and William Dufour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a call pretty late at night, that I was getting traded to the Islanders,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cAt first, it was a bit of a shock, but I realized the opportunity that\u2019s there with the Islanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to talk to management and development people, and I\u2019ve heard nothing but great things about the organization. I\u2019m excited to get to camp and get going with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritchie arrives in New York after having 70 points (15 goals, 55 assists) in 47 regular-season games and 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 21 playoff games for Oshawa, which lost to London in the Memorial Cup Final.<\/p>\n

Between his playoff run at the junior level and his brief stint with the Avalanche, he\u2019s eager to take the next step in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the pace of (the NHL) is so high and you have to be really good defensively,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cThat was something I continued to work on the rest of the season. And when I got sent back to Oshawa, I thought I improved my game a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy where my game has grown since being in Colorado. I\u2019m excited to show what I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocky Thompson, the new coach for Bridgeport of the American Hockey League, worked with Ritchie (6-foot-2, 195 pounds) during Islanders development camp and was impressed by his strength on the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, (his) physical attributes are outstanding,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cAnd he skates well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll have to showcase his abilities when the Islanders begin training camp in September. Their season opener is set for Oct. 9 at the Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/p>\n

Ritchie plans on being in the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I play a smart game; I play the right way,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cI think I make creative plays offensively and can take care of stuff defensively as well. I just compete hard — I want to win every single night. I\u2019m excited to be able to try and show that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ritchie was acquired by the Islanders from the Avalanche one day prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-37028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}