Watched some more tape
Pros
- Very quick release
- Always finds himself in the right location (showing great IQ)
- Scores a lot of goals in front of the net
- Superb vision on the PP (some brilliant passing ability with open space)
- Slick hands, pretty deceptive considering he's a bigger guy on the slower side
Cons
- Skating is pretty bad
- Not a catalyst with the puck (probably the most disappointing element)
- Needs puck-rushing linemate(s) to be effective
- Not sure how good the heaviness of his shot will be against better goalers
- Goes to the dirty areas a lot, but doesn't really have any sort of mean streak or feistiness
He's really unique as a centre because a lot of his best plays happen when the puck is loose in front of the net and he's always the last man in doing a nice poke or steal and pass to somebody open. Additionally, as a centre, he doesn't really hold onto the puck for long, you can see from his IQ and anticipation that he tends to get rid of it very quickly once he gets it - either using his quick release or a solid pass to a teammate in space. Because of that (and because of skating) he is the opposite of a puck-rushing centre, which I suggest is somebody you want. You want your centres to be ones that hold onto the puck and make plays out of nothing, Ritchie is much more of a reactionary player.
I think he relies on his cerebral play too much for my liking, and even though he is a smart player, to take the next step he needs to issue his force more in the game. And what I mean by force, I mean using his talent and not really a physical element (even though he needs to also improve in that regard as well). I agree with Hench that there is a lot of Dylan Strome in his game, but I also see quite a bit of Adam Henrique as well (one of those slower blokes, but is still effective).
