Confirmed Signing with Link: Ducks sign Max Jones to ELC

[Siludin]

Who else here thinks Ritchie is a power forward and might take longer to develop?

 

[Man Bear Pig]

To be fair he wasn't overly impressive in his draft + years and damn that guy needs to start working out.

I see him listed at 6'2 232 pounds. Are you kidding me? For reference 6'9 Chara is listed at 250...

For reference Milan Lucic is 6'3 233lbs. Guess he should cut some weight too. Let's not pretend Chara is the norm. He's a freak of nature. There's a reason why you don't see more hockey players his size.

 

[McSuper]

Certainly heading towards a bust. I think at this point he is heading into bottom 6 player status, rather than top line PWF he was projected as. That is a bust to me.

For reference

Ritchie: 33 games played 4 points
Nylander 22 games played 13 points
Ehlers 72 games played 38 points
Fiala only played five games but was on a better pace
And of course, Larkin

He is for sure the most disappointing so far out of all of these.

I can post point totals of other rookie and make Nylander look like the bust

PWF always take longer to develop . It hard to play the PWF game against bigger , fast , stronger D in the NHL and much easier to play the finesse game hence the point difference

 

[Hunter Gathers]

How could he be a bust? Just played his first pro season, did extremely well and played in the big league. Only thing he needs to work on is his conditioning and his skating which are relatively easy fixes, would not consider him a bust in the slightest

Lol. Working on skating is now a "relatively easy fix[]"? Unbelievable.

 

[#1GuinFan]

Came to read about Jones, left knowing more about Ritchie.

 

[Vipers31]

Lol. Working on skating is now a "relatively easy fix[]"? Unbelievable.

Compared to other traits, like hands or hockey IQ, and probably shooting as well, it absolutely is among the easier fixes, at least to get it up to a certain NHL level. In Richie's case, it's not even acceleration or edgework, but mostly top speed that needs some work. That singular aspect isn't all that hard to work on. We've seen the improvements with Ryan's skating, who started out with far less than Ritchie has already.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Certainly heading towards a bust. I think at this point he is heading into bottom 6 player status, rather than top line PWF he was projected as. That is a bust to me.

For reference

Ritchie: 33 games played 4 points
Nylander 22 games played 13 points
Ehlers 72 games played 38 points
Fiala only played five games but was on a better pace
And of course, Larkin

He is for sure the most disappointing so far out of all of these.

Power forwards tend to take longer to develop how can someone not know this?

 

[robbieboy3686]

I want Ritchie to succeed and become a Bertuzzi:ish kind of player, but in all fairness, trying to stay objective, he looked really underwhelming in the NHL.

I probably watched 25 of his 33 games.

Perhaps he was balls out in the other eight..

As a ducks fan myself, objectively big plus +1 here , hope things drastically change next season for him

 

[McNurse]

Lol. Working on skating is now a "relatively easy fix[]"? Unbelievable.

Easy compared other parts of a hockey players game. You do know that they have access to great facilities and coaches who can show them how make themselves bette? It's not like they're some bantam player trying to find ice in the summer time to work on skating, they have enough resources available to them to make it easy. Just look at Tavares and Ryan for example they were not the best skaters at all and they've improved mightily. So before you go around being some condescending ******* about things you clearly don't have much knowledge on you should think twice before replying and sounding like a jerk.

 

[Paul4587]

Certainly heading towards a bust. I think at this point he is heading into bottom 6 player status, rather than top line PWF he was projected as. That is a bust to me.

For reference

Ritchie: 33 games played 4 points
Nylander 22 games played 13 points
Ehlers 72 games played 38 points
Fiala only played five games but was on a better pace
And of course, Larkin

He is for sure the most disappointing so far out of all of these.

He was a 19 year old rookie last year. Go look at Joe Thornton's first year, he had 7 points FFS (I know he was a year younger but he's a much better player than Ritchie ever will be and he produced **** all as a rookie too).

I don't think Ritchie is a can't miss top line prospect but he has the raw skills and physicality that at worst he's going to be a third liner with snarl.

 

[Quackery]

Are people seriously calling Ritchie a bust at 19 years old? I'm really starting to lose faith in HF during this offseason. So much ******** being thrown around these days

 

[Dabest]

Are people seriously calling Ritchie a bust at 19 years old? I'm really starting to lose faith in HF during this offseason. So much ******** being thrown around these days

20* turns 21 in December

 

[IDuck]

20* turns 21 in December

yeah but something that hasnt been mentioned is that he is a powerforward and those guys take longer to develop...just something for everyone to keep in mind.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Nick Ritchie's problem is he outperformed expectations earning an NHL call up that he wasn't ready for, now he's a bust, cuz hf.

 

[Pennaduck]

Nick Ritchie's problem is he outperformed expectations earning an NHL call up that he wasn't ready for, now he's a bust, cuz hf.

That and his conditioning wasn't NHL level, and he was snake bitten for stretches during his NHL time last season. I thought he played pretty well at times actually, he just seemed to not catch any breaks during those stretches.

He is a power forward and was playing his first pro season. I don't know why people on here seem to forget that they tend to take a year or two longer than other forward prospects, or that the majority of forward prospects in general take a few years to break into an NHL lineup. Makes no sense to call a guy a bust before his second pro season.

 

[Kalv]

So yeah... Max Jones

 

[JTmillerForA1stLOL]

Are we talking about Nick Ritchie or Jake Virtanen? The names and comments are practically interchangeable.

 

[HanSolo]

20* turns 21 in December

Oh well then ****. It's game over for him.

What a waste of a pick.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Are we talking about Nick Ritchie or Jake Virtanen? The names and comments are practically interchangeable.

Not for long.

 

[Exit Dose]

Compared to other traits, like hands or hockey IQ, and probably shooting as well, it absolutely is among the easier fixes, at least to get it up to a certain NHL level. In Richie's case, it's not even acceleration or edgework, but mostly top speed that needs some work. That singular aspect isn't all that hard to work on. We've seen the improvements with Ryan's skating, who started out with far less than Ritchie has already.

Bonino and Maroon, too.

 

[tony d]

Jones is going to be a good 1, he should do good with Anaheim.

 

[Kalv]

Jones is going to be a good 1, he should do good with Anaheim.

I`m kind of scared of his hockey IQ, so far he has (mostly) scored because of his physical atributes, which will not be that big of an advantage anymoere in the NHL. This upcoming season will show a lot what he can do, when he will take on a much larger offensive role. He is reportedly great PK`er though.

I have my fingers crossed but i will be careful with projections