Nick Ritchie Signs In Slovakia

Canadian left winger Nick Ritchie, 28, has signed a contract for the rest of this season to play for Slovak Extraliga club HC Nové Zámky, multiple Slovak media outlets reported on Thursday.

This means that both Ritchie brothers now play in the Slovak Extraliga – older brother Brett plays for HK Nitra.

Nick Ritchie was drafted in the first round, 10^th 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. 

After Kärpät terminated his contract, Ritchie played the final eight games of the season with the Iserlohn Roosters in Germany’s DEL.

Nové Zámky sits last in the 12-team Extraliga with only three wins in its first 13 games.

Nové Zámky and brother Brett’s Nitra team are scheduled to meet each other Nov 3 in Nitra, Dec 26 and Jan 14 in Nové Zámky and Feb 18 back in Nitra. The two cities are only 38 km apart and are league rivals.