MattFromFranklin
Fire Sweeney and Neely
It absolutely is, and you're not alone. I thought all offseason that he'd be on the team only because he sucked less than Senyshyn, Blidh, etc. It's still early, but I've been very encouraged by his play. Perhaps he is just a late bloomer? He was seen a consensus top 8-10 pick in a draft for a reason, so he had to have had some skill.IDK that I'd say it's eating crow, but I was quick to get on Ritchie, but after thinking about it it made no sense why. Not sure if it was something I read here or heard online, but one thing with Ritchie I didn't think about was his standard of play. By that I mean what the "acceptable standard" is for a team in ANH where they've struggled vs Boston where they are contenders is two different things. What is considered game speed w/ ANH is probably significantly different than BOS. When Ritchie came here last year he wasn't Boston game ready and it showed. The pandemic comes in and then he looks awful in the playoffs. Kind of unfair to hold it against him (which is where I was wrong).
I think he's looked a lot better this year, but I will still say I want to see more 5v5 production from him. He's started to trend in the right direction with Smith on the other wing, so I'm hoping it continues. If he can give you 13G/17A this year that would be a 20G/25A season over 82 games and I'd take that all day. Right now he's playing at a 30G/37A pace in 82 games which are crazy numbers, but would be a huge season for him and this team.