Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders

Fantasy Summary

Ritchie is a skilled and quick winger, who will still need to incorporate more mature off-puck habits before he can make the jump to pro hockey.


Observations

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June 2024 – Ritchie was selected in the second round, 45th overall, by the Minnesota Wild in the 2024 NHL Draft. Hadi Kalakeche

April 2024 – Ryder Ritchie is a conundrum. Ritchie is a dynamic, high-energy forward, with plenty of raw skill, but never seemed able to fully put it together.  Ritchie is a highly effective puck carrier with space and a head of steam but can get shut down trying to do it all himself. He’s a slippery puckhandler but often bobbles pucks off the first touch. He’s got a cannon of a shot but settles for long-distance chances. He makes smart reads and puts the puck in dangerous areas but can take his time doing so and telegraphs his intentions. He shows great energy on the forecheck but gets overzealous and allows an escape. Ritchie’s floor is high as a middle-six transition target with energy, but there’s also plenty of reason to believe that with a patient approach and a return to basics that there is some untapped upside. Luke Sweeney (April Rankings: 45th)

November 2023 – Ryder Ritchie looks to be the third WHL player off the board this year as another quick, skilled forward. Ritchie has very quick feet and hands with excellent puckhandling posture, making him an excellent puck carrier. Especially when given time and space to attack downhill, Ritchie is particularly adept at using those hands to find the middle of the ice for high-quality chances. Ritchie is also an effective positionally-focused player, using great puck spacing and support in all three zones and prioritizing strong body positioning before establishing puck possession. The next steps for Ritchie will be improving his standstill explosiveness and checking lanes (which hinders his ability to win puck battles) and adding more layers of deception to his playmaking. Ritchie has a good read of where his options are but too often telegraphs his intentions, making many of his passes unnecessarily risky. If Ritchie can improve in these areas and continue to develop, he could challenge Catton and Lindstrom for a top WHL draft-eligible. Luke Sweeney (November Rankings: 17th Overall)

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 8.5
NHL Certainty 7.5
Country CAN
Position RW
Roster Type Draft Eligible
Shoot/Glove Right
Date of Birth August 3, 2006
Height 6‘0”
Weight 174 lbs
Drafted No

Stats

 Season Team League GP G A TP PIM      Playoffs GP G A TP PIM 
 2017-2018 Western Canada Selects U12WSI U129 3 58 -|        
 2018-2019 Kelowna Jr Rockets (PW)QC Int PW3 1 34 0|        
  Western Canada Selects U13WSI U139 5 611 -|        
 2019-2020 RINK HA Kelowna U15 PrepCSSHL U1529 12 1830 24|Playoffs1 0 11
 2020-2021 RINK HA Kelowna U15 PrepCSSHL U155 10 1828 10|        
 2021-2022 RINK HA Kelowna U18 PrepCSSHL U1823 11 2031 24|Playoffs3 3 36
 2022-2023 Prince Albert RaidersWHL61 20 3555 20|        
  Canada White U17WHC-176 4 04 4|        
 2023-2024 Prince Albert RaidersWHL47 19 2544 24|Playoffs5 3 47
  Canada U18Hlinka Gretzky Cup5 3 69 0|        
  Canada U18WJC-187 4 48 2|        
 2024-2025 Medicine Hat TigersWHL5 0 11 7|        

Highlights