Nick Ritchie discussion - clears waivers

[TMLAM34]

Safe to say the Ritchie experiment on the top line is a no go… Guy clearly belongs on the third line or bottom six role.

 

[ottomaddox]

I pretty much called this from the get go, but I haven't been keeping up.

Was he a healthy scratch last night? Is he a Covid casualty now?

What's going to happen to him now?

 

[Fogelhund]

What's going to happen to him now?

Probably a Cap question, more than anything else now... can we afford to rotate him in and out of the lineup? Cap wise? His physicality might be needed come playoff times... or more to the point, his theoretical physicality. He's clearly on the bubble to be in the roster though.. he's not better than anyone who played last night, that is clear. One game for Mik, but even if he plays that well regularly (even without the goals), Ritchie is on the outside, looking in now.

Is there a need to move him? Is there a market for him?

 

[ottomaddox]

Probably a Cap question, more than anything else now... can we afford to rotate him in and out of the lineup? Cap wise? His physicality might be needed come playoff times... or more to the point, his theoretical physicality. He's clearly on the bubble to be in the roster though.. he's not better than anyone who played last night, that is clear. One game for Mik, but even if he plays that well regularly (even without the goals), Ritchie is on the outside, looking in now.

Is there a need to move him? Is there a market for him?

I've heard this theory, but I think Keefe/Dubas are saying positive things for 2 reasons:

1. He is added depth
2. He's signed for 2 seasons

Thinking that he's some playoff secret weapon of skill and physicality is IMHO wishful.

You never want to see anyone have their worst seasons as a leaf, but I just don't know what else. I can think of busts like Stempniak, O'Neil, Grabner, etc. They still brought something sometimes even when struggling.

 

[Niagara Bill]

Ritchie is likely to get one more opportunity. He should be spending his time skating, practicing his shot and dropping his gloves.
When the time comes he needs to get a Gordy Howe hat trick.
Throw in an open ice hit and he can help this team. If not, bye bye baby, baby good bye.

 

[zeke]

Probably a Cap question, more than anything else now... can we afford to rotate him in and out of the lineup? Cap wise? His physicality might be needed come playoff times... or more to the point, his theoretical physicality. He's clearly on the bubble to be in the roster though.. he's not better than anyone who played last night, that is clear. One game for Mik, but even if he plays that well regularly (even without the goals), Ritchie is on the outside, looking in now.

Is there a need to move him? Is there a market for him?

1. The only way to keep Ritchie around in this kind of role would be to put one of or rotate both of Sandin/Lilly with the marlies. Which isn't ideal.

2. $2.5m for a 12th/13th forward for a team up against the cap is just not capspace well spent. If that's his role (and yeah, it is), then you want to move him - because that opens up $1.7m in capsapce for us, which turns into close to $5m in deadline trade capspace, which is much more valuable than Ritchie himself. And also, because you have Clifford sitting in the minors to provide toughness depth if necessary, and Clifford even brings better skating and defense (though less offensive ability).

3. Even waiving Ritchie makes sense - if someone takes him, then we get $1.7m in capspace and off the books next year. If nobody takes him, then it still saves us enough capsapce and lets us keep him as depth in the minors. Clearing waivers would also make him more attractive in trades for cap teams.

4. You gotta think that even with his lackluster production this year there's still plenty of teams out there that value what he supposedly brings - heavyweight toughness with some legit goalscoring ability. You have to think Dubas had to win a bit of a bidding war for him this summer, and that there's plenty of teams struggling much worse than the Leafs who would look at him still as a very attractive add (even a top-6 add) with a not awful caphit. many GMs would stay away but there's gotta be a good number that still love his Goals+Fights profile - enough to give up a mid round pick or two, at least.

 

[darrylsittler27]

We lost Hyman so Dubas' signed Bunting Kase and Richie. 2 outta 3 ain't bad.We will keep him for the playoffs most likely.

 

[Antropovsky]

Pretty sure he'd get picked up very quickly on waivers.... skilled enforcer types are rare and he's still young. Reaves makes 1.75 million. Matt Martin 1.5 million. These guys can hardly make NHL passes.

He's added a layer of toughness we haven't had in ages to our top 9. Him coming to Matthew's defense against Dubois in Winnipeg was worth it... if not for him and Simmonds I'm sure there would be much more physical play directed at Nylander, Matthew's, Marner and Tavares. I still remember when Sandin was called up and was playing physical... he was being chased around the ice by the opponent with no Leafs coming to his aid, was pretty pathetic to watch.

Do not want to lose Simmonds or Ritchie myself.

 

[Griffin76]

I pretty much called this from the get go, but I haven't been keeping up.

Was he a healthy scratch last night? Is he a Covid casualty now?

What's going to happen to him now?

 

[Stephen]

I could see Ritchie traded to another playoff team for some deadline currency. He's been an abject failure as a Leaf but the player/body type is always in style.

 

[Teeder Keon]

Ritchie bas been bad sure. But the expectations for him were never high. He is going to live and die by how Matthews and Marner are playing. He'd look a lot better in the bottom six.

If the expectations weren’t high for him than why did we pay what we did and sign him to what we did ..
It’s all good , you can’t and will never win every transaction.. I’m happy with what what we got overall without a doubt

 

[ponder]

While Dubas inked some nice deals last offseason (Bunting and Kase were great signings, Kampf and Simmonds good too), the Ritchie and Mrazek signings were TERRIBLE. We’re already a cap starved team, wasting $6.3 mil AAV on these two is brutal. And Ritchie 2 years, Mrazek 3, ugh :/ People (myself included) complain about Marner’s AAV being about $1.5-2 mil high, but the Ritchie/Mrazek signings were actually a much bigger mistake.

Wonder what we’d have to pay to dump them? Maybe a 2nd for Ritchie, 1st for Mrazek?

I do think Ritchie’s legitimately our #13 forward, when we’re fully healthy. Bunting/Matthews/Marner, Kerfoot/JT/Nylander, Mikheyev/Kampf/Kase, Engvall/Spezza/Simmonds, he’s not better than any of these guys IMO. Some will argue for him above Engvall or Simmonds, but I don’t see it.

 

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

If the expectations weren’t high for him than why did we pay what we did and sign him to what we did ..
It’s all good , you can’t and will never win every transaction.. I’m happy with what what we got overall without a doubt

We're only paying him 2.5m lol relax. He isn't a liability out there defensively, he hits, provides toughness of needed and causes havoc infront of the net.. he does have a good shot and skilled hands/passing (compared to most gritty players his size) but that hasn't shown up for us in the slightest (it did in preseason though), he's still useful and at 2.5 it isn't THAT detrimental to us.. and if the scoring starts coming then we hit a home run. As of now he's earning his 2.5 but our team is cap strapped and that's not his fault.. we find a way to make the best of it.

Edit: I quoted the wrong guy. My bad

 

[Menzinger]

I could see Ritchie traded to another playoff team for some deadline currency. He's been an abject failure as a Leaf but the player/body type is always in style.

If the Leafs want to dump him I don't think it will be too difficult. They won't get anything beyond "future considerations" or an AHL contract for him, bit there's always a GM out there who wants a big body on skates.

 

[showtime8]

While Dubas inked some nice deals last offseason (Bunting and Kase were great signings, Kampf and Simmonds good too), the Ritchie and Mrazek signings were TERRIBLE. We’re already a cap starved team, wasting $6.3 mil AAV on these two is brutal. And Ritchie 2 years, Mrazek 3, ugh :/ People (myself included) complain about Marner’s AAV being about $1.5-2 mil high, but the Ritchie/Mrazek signings were actually a much bigger mistake.

Wonder what we’d have to pay to dump them? Maybe a 2nd for Ritchie, 1st for Mrazek?

I do think Ritchie’s legitimately our #13 forward, when we’re fully healthy. Bunting/Matthews/Marner, Kerfoot/JT/Nylander, Mikheyev/Kampf/Kase, Engvall/Spezza/Simmonds, he’s not better than any of these guys IMO. Some will argue for him above Engvall or Simmonds, but I don’t see it.

It will likely be the equivalent for money buried in the minors or forward in the similar position to get rid of Ritchie. At this point, the Leafs need to wipe their hands clean of this signing and move on. There's no sense in hoping that he will magically find his play come playoff time. If he's not useful now, he's not going to be useful for the next 50 games and into a couple rounds of playoffs. The intention with the signing of Ritchie was good based on what the Leafs were needing after a couple of brutal playoff series. But it just hasn't worked and that happens. If you're the Leafs, they're probably looking at Brett Connolly or Cody Eakin.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Pretty sure he'd get picked up very quickly on waivers.... skilled enforcer types are rare and he's still young. Reaves makes 1.75 million. Matt Martin 1.5 million. These guys can hardly make NHL passes.

He's added a layer of toughness we haven't had in ages to our top 9. Him coming to Matthew's defense against Dubois in Winnipeg was worth it... if not for him and Simmonds I'm sure there would be much more physical play directed at Nylander, Matthew's, Marner and Tavares. I still remember when Sandin was called up and was playing physical... he was being chased around the ice by the opponent with no Leafs coming to his aid, was pretty pathetic to watch.

Do not want to lose Simmonds or Ritchie myself.

The toughness is definitely worth something, especially to a team like ours - teams have taken way too many liberties with our players during recent years and if Ritchie helps put a stop to it then he's worth quite a bit.

 

[showtime8]

The toughness is definitely worth something, especially to a team like ours - teams have taken way too many liberties with our players during recent years and if Ritchie helps put a stop to it then he's worth quite a bit.

But he's playing on the 4th line, so if he's not out there when other teams are taking liberties on the top players, what good is he?

 

[Stephen]

If the Leafs want to dump him I don't think it will be too difficult. They won't get anything beyond "future considerations" or an AHL contract for him, bit there's always a GM out there who wants a big body on skates.

The online chatter seems to be that Ritchie could be waived. I guess that would save some long distance phone charges or at least get the ball rolling on a new change in address. I wouldn't mind it if he went to the West again. I'm sure if he ended up in Carolina or on the Island we'd never hear the end of how we didn't give him a chance and here comes Nick Ritchie, etc.

 

[Gary Nylund]

But he's playing on the 4th line, so if he's not out there when other teams are taking liberties on the top players, what good is he?

He can take a shift now and then on the top lines and also take names and get payback later. His mere presence in the lineup sense a message IMO. I'm not saying it's a great contract or anything, just that he brings something to the team that has value, even if it can't be measured with advanced stats.

 

[showtime8]

He can take a shift now and then on the top lines and also take names and get payback later. His mere presence in the lineup sense a message IMO. I'm not saying it's a great contract or anything, just that he brings something to the team that has value, even if it can't be measured with advanced stats.

The two main games in the season where the Leafs had a physical brand of hockey or some sort of animosity against the other team was against Winnipeg and it took Simmonds, Clifford and Spezza to step up for that... and the other game that was chippy was Minnesota and Simmonds stepped up for that one.
I know it doesn't have to be a fight. That's usually the thing that people point out. But are we just going to wait for him to get a big hit? He doesn't PK and he gets the 7th most ice time on the PP.

 

[LeafChief]

This was not a good signing. If he has no trade value, waivers might be the best spot for him right now. If he gets picked up, perfect. If he doesn't, you can bury 1.25 (or around there) of it and have him ready in case of injury (which there undoubtedly will be).

Picking up Clifford kind of eliminates the need for Ritchie if he isn't going to produce offensively.

 

[justashadowof]

Injuries will happen. If he isn't on the outs with management, he'll play again. He may be difficult to move other than some sort of salary balancing addition to a larger deal. And even then, he gets most of his money next season. I still think there's a real chance he'll go on a little scoring streak. If my memory serves me, he's hit some posts and just missed on a few deflections. He does have decent hands.

 

[Drew311]

I could see Ritchie traded to another playoff team for some deadline currency. He's been an abject failure as a Leaf but the player/body type is always in style.

Contenders aren't looking for 2.5M 4th liners/press box dwellers with another year left on their already terrible contracts. Dubas signed Ritchie to appease the fanbase who loves their lunchpail players. Turns out Ritchie has as much grit as a hemorrhoid pillow.

 

[Drew311]

Injuries will happen. If he isn't on the outs with management, he'll play again. He may be difficult to move other than some sort of salary balancing addition to a larger deal. And even then, he gets most of his money next season. I still think there's a real chance he'll go on a little scoring streak. If my memory serves me, he's hit some posts and just missed on a few deflections. He does have decent hands.

You can always send him to Arizona, but it would come at a cost.

 

[justashadowof]

You can always send him to Arizona, but it would come at a cost.

They can barely make rent. They aren't going to want to pay Ritchie $3.3M for the 2022-23 season.