Calum Ritchie pump-faked Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka to score his first goal of the preseason.
He’s not pump-faking Colorado Avalanche. The 19-year-old is on the verge of making the Avalanche on substance.
Since the 2011-12 season, three players have started the season with the Colorado Avalanche before turning 20. Those players are Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Ritchie – a first-round pick in 2023 – is set to be the fourth.
The Ontario native was going to get an opportunity to make the team out of camp. The NHL has an agreement with the Canadian Major Junior leagues (WHL, OHL, QMJHL): if a player is under 20 years old, he is not allowed to be sent to the AHL team and must be sent to his junior team.
“You want to do what’s best for [Ritchie] long-term in his development,” Bednar said at the start of camp. “If we see a role that he can fill and grow into throughout the course of the regular season where he can make an impact come playoff time then listen, I am open to playing kids. Whoever can get the job done.”
Ritchie can play in nine NHL games without burning a year on his Entry Level Contract. So there is a possibility that Ritchie will have a nine-game tryout in the NHL before management officially decides whether he belongs with the club.
“The time to get young players into the lineup is at the start of the year because your game is never perfect at the start of the year and there is a lot of runway there so you can live with certain mistakes,” Bednar said.
The Avs are in an interesting spot. Three of their projected top six forwards have not been with the team during training camp: Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog. That makes the Avs more inclined to give Ritchie a nine-game tryout in a bigger role.
For now, the teenager is on the Colorado Avalanche.
Ritchie is coming off a season with the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League where tallied 80 points (28 goals, 52 assists) in 50 games. He has been an assistant captain over the last two seasons.
In the preseason game against Utah, Bednar vocalized his disappointment in Ritchie’s ability to play a complete game despite his highlight reel goal.
“I don’t think he had a great night on the defensive side of things, at all,” Bednar said. “But then he can show flashes of what he can do, really flashes of brilliances in some areas with the puck; offensively and his vision and his ability. The goal was insane.”
If Ritchie can stick with the team through the 82-game season, it will be because he has exemplified growth when he doesn’t have the puck.
“He’s got areas of his game where he’s got to improve and improve quickly,” Bednar said. “And then there are other areas of his game that are impressive at the NHL level.”