Nick Ritchie discussion - clears waivers

[zeke]

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Wonder how much he is liked in the dressing room, him tripping his former teammate and leader Marchand in Boston, after the whistle I thought was interesting. Players don't typically do things to former teammates that quickly after signing elsewhere unless they didn't like them.

No one likes Marchand .. but you have to respect his on ice hockey capabilities as a top 10 player in league .. he is biggest jerk there is

 

[Racer88]

He wrote a book on Rap so he has that going for him.

Hahahahahahah. I concede.

 

[Fogelhund]

No one likes Marchand .. but you have to respect his on ice hockey capabilities as a top 10 player in league .. he is biggest jerk there is

Crazy that he seems to get better each year at his age, bucking the normal trend of slowing down after mid 20's.

 

[Antropovsky]

I played with guys that I liked in the room and and at the bar, but if I played against them it would probably take less than shift to be wanting to beat the piss out of them- and they weren't marchand level rats lol

Yea hitting a guy is one thing but dumping him between whistles is a bit different and in over 20 years of being a spectator, I have seen it very rarely. But hey maybe Marchand started it.. wouldn't put it past him either.

 

[SprDaVE]

 

[Fogelhund]

How is it, nobody has beaten the tar out of Marchand? I don't get that.

 

[Fogelhund]

Ummm... yay?

 

[LeafalCrusader]

No surprise. People actually thought he might get claimed lol.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Crazy that he seems to get better each year at his age, bucking the normal trend of slowing down after mid 20's.

He has breakaway Willy speed, he has Mitch level edges, he has a Pasta level shot, hands of Matty and he forechecks like Zach .. he is da complete TOOL hockey player and maybe with MAC da only 2 in entire league who can do it all .. but he is a jerk with his friends and everyone I talked to in Halifax who knew him said he was nasty in every way .. but maybe that is what gives him his edge

 

[All Mod Cons]

I'd be shocked if he was claimed.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

He has breakaway Willy speed, he has Mitch level edges, he has a Pasta level shot, hands of Matty and he forechecks like Zach .. he is da complete TOOL hockey player and maybe with MAC da only 2 in entire league who can do it all .. but he is a jerk with his friends and everyone I talked to in Halifax who knew him said he was nasty in every way .. but maybe that is what gives him his edge

And even weirder both from Halifax and Moosehead factory .. incredible to produce 2 kids with every TOOL and they live a few minutes from each other

 

[Clyde Brewer]

Ummm... yay?

I think it's a yay.

We've saved some money and have more options/flexibility with the roster now. He's a big body that we plug in whenever we want, and we never seen to find enough of those during playoffs. He could very well still be useful for us.

 

[zeke]

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Not a shock and actually might be a good thing short term with Kase day to day and Engval and Marner in protocol, might need him for the next couple games

 

[Buds17]

Provides cap space for now and potentially kicks that can down the road until the taxi squad period concludes.

 

[PromisedLand]

Crazy that he seems to get better each year at his age, bucking the normal trend of slowing down after mid 20's.

Training with "Gud Pros" like Crosby in the offseason would do that to ya... especially in terms of attitude towards the game, mindset and willingness to succeed

 

[PromisedLand]

I wonder how this cap gymnastics playout after the regular season is done and there is no cap in the playoffs. Would we be able to roll with a 23 man roster in the playoffs without regard to cap space?

Or do we have to carry the same roster that we had in the regular season for the playoffs?

 

[MarMarSab3]

All this talk about putting positivity out there and eventually it will come true well I put a whole bunch of positivity out there that he would get claimed didn't work so that's a farce

 

[hotpaws]

I think the Leafs do want to keep him. But if somebody offers a tangible asset to take that $2.5M off the books next year you have to consider it.

If the Leafs wanted to keep him they wouldn't have placed him on waivers and would have cleared cap another way , if another team wanted him they would have claimed him .

no one is giving up an asset now that he's cleared to have him play in the minors as a potential call up in case of injuries/covid at his cap hit

it was a bust signing and most of our fan base have accepted that outside of a few who for some reason need to try to spin it that Ritchie still has value

 

[egd27]

So do they get the full 2.5M in relief because of the Taxi Squad or just the 1.125M as per the CBA "buried contract" rules?

 

[The Podium]

Weird how many people wanted Ritchie and are now pissed he didn’t get claimed on waivers.

He was a big red flag for years, but people had the Brian Burkian hang up on physicality and pugnacity.

 

[Stephen]

All this talk about putting positivity out there and eventually it will come true well I put a whole bunch of positivity out there that he would get claimed didn't work so that's a farce

Haha who knows, maybe a team likes Nick Ritchie so much they’ll give us a mid round pick to have him and his new found waiver free status…

 

[AvroArrow]

How is it, nobody has beaten the tar out of Marchand? I don't get that.

He used to hide up Chara's ass while he was in Boston, now he just runs away

 

[Stephen]

Weird how many people wanted Ritchie and are now pissed he didn’t get claimed on waivers.

He was a big red flag for years, but people had the Brian Burkian hang up on physicality and pugnacity.

Why would it be weird that people want him gone after a poor half season? Seems like a reasonable response to an experiment that didn’t work out…

Richtie might suck but there’s also no need to naysay the Burkisms of pugnacity, belligerence or testosterone. If he brought those things on a nightly basis he wouldn’t have been waived.