EXCLUSIVE: Cal Ritchie Emerging As Islanders’ New Net-Front Warrior
In this exclusive, Cal Ritchie details his growing net-front presence, rising confidence, and the impact of Pete DeBoer on his evolving role.
ELMONT, NY — Over the final few weeks of Patrick Roy’s tenure with the New York Islanders, I asked him often about Cal Ritchie.
The answer always stemmed from the 21-year-old forward needing to go to the net more.
Despite the Islanders’ struggles over the last few weeks, Ritchie has taken that to heart, crashing the net incredibly often, while also turning into a weapon on the goal line on the club’s top power-play unit.
In Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ritchie recorded a goal and an assist.
His assist saw him make a slick feed to Brayden Schenn on a delayed penalty:
Then, he batted a puck out of the air from the doorstep on a 5-on-3 man advantage:
With that multi-point game, Ritchie reached the 30-point mark (13 goals, 17 assists) and now has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) over his last 16 games.
I asked new head coach Pete DeBoer about what he saw from Ritchie in that win and what kind of player he believes he can be in this league if he’s going to go to the net as he has been as of late.
That, along with what Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat had to say, plus an interview with Ritchie: