What's Toronto looking to add in reality (yes, we all know "cap space" but for what)?
And what's wrong with Ritchie? Honest evaluation is there an injury aspect to this, is this a "needs a new start" situation, is this mere downward, unexplained progression or...what's up with him?
Good questions. I will do my best to give as accurate answers as possible.
There is no injury problem that I am aware of. I could be wrong, but IMO it is not accurate that he doesn't care any more. Ritchie went for a very long time with zero goals. Late in the drought, when the Leafs were winning in a blowout, the other Leafs players kept trying to set him up to enable him to break the goose egg. He is clearly well liked by his teammates; I do not believe that he would be as well-liked if he did not care.
The problem is that he just did not fit with the Leafs. He started out on the first line, but it did not work and when Bunting got his chance, he ran (or skated?) with it.
Ritchie was not bad on the third line, but when Mikheyev came off off LTIR, he was much better, (and a helluva lot faster).
Ritchie was a really bad fit on the fourth line with Spezza and Simmonds. They were all too slow. (With Engvall taking the LW spot now, that line functions much better.)
The Leafs would like to dump Ritchie's contract for cap reasons, but they are not desperate to do so and can see the benefits of having him available for the playoffs, especially if they somehow end up playing Washington. (I have not researched it, but have read that Ritchie is the one guy who can handle Wilson.) My guess is that Ritchie will be the most attractive to teams in the Metro division who are more likely to play Washington.
The Leafs are not expecting anything of value back and will take on financial costs that do not affect the cap. For example, when they traded Kapanen, they took back David Warsofsky who clearly had no future in the NHL, but had a salary of close to a million to play in the AHL.
It probably helps that Ritchie has cleared waivers, since a team can keep him in the minors until the playoffs, if they want, or at least until later in the season when the cap hit is not as high.
Hope this helps.
