Although it didn’t go the way he had hoped after signing a two-year deal with the club last summer, Nick Ritchie fulfilled a boyhood dream.
Nick Ritchie was full of optimism last summer when he signed a two-year contract worth $5 million with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After unexpectedly becoming an unrestricted free agent when the Boston Bruins didn’t tender the player a qualifying offer, the Orangeville, Ontario native saw an excellent fit to play under head coach Sheldon Keefe, someone who he had played for in juniors, but this time with an NHL team he grew up watching.
“It’s a dream come true to come back and play for a coach that I know and a hometown team that I think it’s just going to fit really good I think,” Ritchie said last year.
That dream ended earlier than he had anticipated when the Maple Leafs traded Ritchie to the Arizona Coyotes in February along with a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft or third-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft in exchange for defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and forward Ryan Dzingel.
In many ways, it was a mercy move for Ritchie, who never found his fit with Toronto.
He started the season as Toronto’s first-line left winger. Described as a ‘big boy’ by linemates Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, the 6’3” and 236 pounder certainly gave the Maple Leafs’ top line a different look. But what he added in size didn’t translate to strong two-way play.
Two weeks after the season began, Ritchie was moved from the first line to the fourth line. He bounced around the club’s bottom-six forward group until December. That’s when Keefe scratched the forward after having a fully healthy group of forwards as his disposal.
“I just didn’t get off to a good start and I think it snowballed from there,” Ritchie said last month.
The big forward finished his tenure in Toronto with just two goals and nine points in 33 games. He found success with the Coyotes where he scored 10 goals and had 14 points in 24 games.
Ritchie says the pressure of playing for his hometown team in front of family and friends may have contributed to his struggles, but mostly pointed the blame at how things began as the reason for why things went south, both literally and figuratively.
“It was nice to get a fresh start and get it going again,” Ritchie said of his success with Arizona. “I’m happy and the past is the past and I’m looking forward to next year.”
Ritchie was speaking while attending the Marner Assist Foundation Event last month. Around many of his now former teammates, it’s clear he was well liked on the team during his tenure with the club.
That was evident when he scored his second goal as a Maple Leaf. It came a day after the forward had cleared waivers and his teammates were quick to show him some love on the bench.
It was those moments he’ll look back on most.
“It meant a lot. I’m always going to remember playing for the Leafs,” Ritchie said. “Growing up being a Leafs fan and all that stuff. I got to do that.”
Miscast?
Although Ritchie struggled, the Maple Leafs have to point the finger at themselves for some of what went wrong during his tenure in Toronto.
At $2.5 million in average annual value, Ritchie was the most expensive forward the Leafs signed last summer. Having played in a third-line role for most of his time with the Bruins, that’s probably where he should have started. But with other gambles, the Leafs didn’t have much of a choice but to try Ritchie in that spot first. They were fortunate to find gold in Michael Bunting, who also signed last summer and has fit in well on the top line.
Expensive mistake to fix
When Ritchie cleared waivers in early January, it was evident the Maple Leafs were going to have to move an asset in order to rid themselves of Ritchie’s contract.
While Lyubushkin was a useful addition to the Leafs when they acquired him in the deal, the defenseman departed the club when he signed a two-year, $5.5 million deal this summer with the Buffalo Sabres. The potential loss is the second-round pick in 2025 or third-round pick in 2023 that the Leafs had to surrender to get out from under Ritchie’s commitment.
And it’s not the first time for Kyle Dubas.
It goes to show you what can happen when you lack salary cap space and have an onerous contract, even if it is in the short term.
Toronto had the same issue with struggling goaltender Petr Mrazek, who had two years remaining on an contract with an average annual value of $3.4 million. The Leafs shipped him off to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for moving down 13 spots, from the first round to the second round, in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Maple Leafs are in win-now mode but at some point those futures picks could cost them.
Further Reading
Why the Maple Leafs Don’t Need to Force a Trade to Become Salary Cap Compliant
Calle Jarnkrok’s Contract Signals Return of Maple Leafs’ Pre-Pandemic Salary Cap Strategy
It’s Way Too Early to Worry About Auston Matthews’ Future with the Maple Leafs