Canadian left winger Nick Ritchie, 29, has transferred within the Slovak Extraliga from HC Nové Zámky and will play the remainder of the season for HC Slovak Bratislava, the latter club announced on Friday.

Ritchie had 24 points in 19 games for Nové Zámky, which sits last in the 12-team league with only eight wins in 43 games. Slovan is currently in fourth place.

“I’m really excited to be going to Slovan,” said Ritchie. “They have a great history and always have a great team, so hopefully we have a long playoff run with a good ending. I’ll try to contribute to that with my game – being strong on the puck and helping the offense score goals.”

"We were looking for a suitable player on the market to take the place of Austin Ortega,” said Slovan GM Lukáš Havlíček. “At the same time, we said to the coaching staff that he should be more physically resistant towards the playoffs. Nick has experience, a suitable physique and was productive in Nové Zámky.

“He is almost 100 percent recovered from his injury and will play either on Sunday or after the international break.”

Both Nick and his brother Brett have now both moved on from the Slovak clubs that they played for earlier this season, with Brett transferring from HK Nitra to the Schwenninger Wild Wings of Germany’s DEL in early January. At the time, Nitra club president Miroslav Kováčik said the move was necessary because of the failure of Slovak league referees to protect offensively creative players.

The Ritchie brothers played two head-to-head games in the Slovak Extraliga this season, with both of them speaking to the media after the Nov. 3 game, which Nitra won 5-2.

“That was cool,” Nick said about playing against his brother. “It’s been a couple years, I think, but it’s always nice when you can do that.”

In Nové Zámky, Ritchie was also a teammate and linemate of ex-NHLer Jayce Hawryluk, who has also moved to EHC Kloten in Switzerland. 

Nick Ritchie was drafted in the first round, 10th overall, of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. Between 2015 and 2023, Ritchie played 481 NHL regular-season games for the Ducks, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes and Calgary Flames, recording 186 points and 483 penalty minutes. He produced nine more points in 38 playoff games for the Ducks and Bruins.

After failing to make the St. Louis Blues out of training camp in 2023, Ritchie signed with Kärpät Oulu in the Finnish Liiga. There he recorded five points in 10 games before receiving an eight-game suspension for throwing several punches to the head of an opponent – Markus Nurmi of TPS – who was lying on the ice.

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After Kärpät terminated his contract, Ritchie played the final eight games of the season with the Iserlohn Roosters in Germany. Slovan is now his fourth team in two seasons in Europe.