Hi Flames fans, a question here, for fantasy pool matter... Is there an issue about Rittich? Why isn't he signed already?
Thanks...
Like Lunatik said, Treliving never really rushes RFA signings. There has been no (or next to no) rumours about what Rittich is asking, but I think one hold up is there isn't a real comparable to Rittich at this point. There are some closer comparables, but nobody in recent years with the stats he has, at the age he is, with the games played that he has. His most recent comparables coming off of seasons similar to Rittich (who has a career 67 games played, 58 starts, and a .909 sv%) would be Laurent Broissot (49 gp, 39 starts, .911 sv%, signed a 1 year 1.25 aav), Darcy Kuemper (84 gp, 72 starts, .912 sv%, 1 year 1.55 aav), Phillip Grubauer (99gp 78 starts, .923 sv%, 3 year 3.33 aav), Louis Domingue (96 gp, 82 starts, .907 sv% 2 year 1.15 aav), and Jakob Markstrom (101 gp, 90 starts, .907 sv%, 3 year 3.66 aav). Those are the closest comparables, and as you can see, none of them really are close to Rittich. Outside of Broissot, all of them have more career starts, than Rittich has career games played. And the aav is anywhere from slightly above 1 mil, to 3.5 mil. It's not like they're all within a 750k range.
I have no doubt Rittich signs. He seems to like it here, and all the guys seem to like him. And the fans absolutely love Big Save Dave (or Big Di.. Rittich). It's also fairly well known that he basically has the reigns in Calgary at this point (with Talbot being a 1b, or a backup, depending on how Rittich plays).