After his first full season in the NHL, Brett Ritchie was rewarded with a two year deal by the Dallas Stars. Ritchie will cost the team $1.75 million for both years of the deal. After signing the 24-year-old, the Stars are left with just under $3 million in cap space. While they’ve certainly had an exciting off-season so far, they might not be done yet.
Dallas Stars Sign Brett Ritchie for Two Years
Ritchie was a second round pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. After finishing his years in the OHL, he moved on to play two seasons in the AHL. While he didn’t light up the scoreboard, he did well enough to receive 31 NHL games in the latter part of the 2014-15 season. He also played in eight in 2015-16, and in total only had nine points in his first 39 NHL games. He was sent back to the NHL to finish off the 15-16 season.
Ritchie finally got his break this past year though. He played in 78 games this past season, and had 24 points. It was a breakthrough season for the young forward. While not being a huge scorer, he was consistent throughout the season, and helped out the Stars bottom six. The two years on his contract will give him time to continue proving himself. If he remains consistent, he could continue to have a bottom six spot on the Stars roster.
Rithcie’s signing adds to a list of Stars signings or acquisitions. The list started when they replaced their head coach, Lindy Ruff, with Ken Hitchcock. That change alone would have been enough to help what was a weak Stars team. They followed it up, though, by signing Ben Bishop, Alexander Radulov, and Martin Hanzal; as well as trading for Marc Methot. The Stars took missing the playoffs hard, and have added plenty of strength.
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