Player Discussion Nick Ritchie

[GordonHowe]

I would agree that Pat Maroon is way slower than Ritchie and he played a huge role for Tampa last night. Columbus is a very quick team.
Cut Nick some slack. The Bruins need someone who can win puck battles along the boards. Henien was a nice player but he didn't scare anyone in board battles.

No issue with jettisoning Heinen. The Bruins have plenty of this sort.

Remember, the main point of that trade was salary relief from David's contract, which in large measure they achieved. Due credit. And, they managed to pick up Ritchie and Kase, who, *in limited roles*, might be of value.

From what I've gathered, Ritchie played okay today on the third line and Kase, especially, played well with DK46. I did not expect the latter, and have speculated Kase was "just another guy." Perhaps I was wrong.

Kreji deserves genuine respect for putting up with a revolving door of wingers over a long, long period of time. I appreciate that he hasn't complained about this.

 

[Kalus]

Grab the scrubber and slowly watch the frames here. Bjork had his stick on/next to the glove, but watch Ritchie. To my eyes, he clearly followed through with his stick and swept both his and Bjork’s right into the glove on his fore-hand. Ritchie helped make that happen and did exactly what they hoped he would there, IMO.

Also, Slavin is one of the strongest, best defenders in the league and had a tough time neutralizing Ritchie on that play. Does one of the smaller forwards make that happen? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.

I agree he’s been inconsistent, I’ve been saying that since his first game. Just think he had his moments and today and that was a big one.

I can't believe Carolina let them get away with that. Your goalie has the puck trapped and Ritchie and/or Bjork sweep his glove to dislodge the puck?

If that happened to Tuukka, I sure hope there would have been a big response, at least some cross checks and facewashes, ideally fights.

 

[LSCII]

He’s kind of exactly as advertised - makes a play or two, looks big, and leaves you thinking he could do more.

Which if you're talking about a bottom 6 player, you accept it as that's why they're a bottom 6 player. If you slot him up into a role where the holes in his game are more exposed, that's when it becomes a real issue.

I was all over them (management) for pushing him up to play with DK, when it was so clear he wasn't that guy. Since they dropped him down, and limited his minutes to cover some of those skating deficiencies, I'm good with him on the roster.

 

[GordonHowe]

Ritchie played a pretty big role in Coyle’s goal, IMO. His size and strength around the net, especially with his stick, is a big reason why that puck got dislodged. He’s inconsistent for sure, but he absolutely did he job there.

I'm a bit confused. I watched a short clip of the goal on Stanley Cup of Chowder (TM).

Was this a hand pass by Ritchie, and therefore null? Or was the puck simply dislodged from Mrazek's glove?

Having been on the receiving end of countless, seemingly "unfair" calls by ref's, I can well understand Rod Brind'Amour's fury. Apparently, the referees could not, or more likely would not, clarify the nature of their call,

Brind’Amour calls Coyle goal a "crime scene," league a "joke" after controversial call

 

[Kalus]

No issue with jettisoning Heinen. The Bruins have plenty of this sort.

Remember, the main point of that trade was salary relief from David's contract, which in large measure they achieved. Due credit. And, they managed to pick up Ritchie and Kase, who, *in limited roles*, might be of value.

From what I've gathered, Ritchie played okay today on the third line and Kase, especially, played well with DK46. I did not expect the latter, and have speculated Kase was "just another guy." Perhaps I was wrong.

Kreji deserves genuine respect for putting up with a revolving door of wingers over a long, long period of time. I appreciate that he hasn't complained about this.

Its weird. Cassidy recently said Krejci never complained about it, but I remember a Fluto article from 2 or so years ago where Krejci was griping about not getting to play with Pasta.

 

[GordonHowe]

Which if you're talking about a bottom 6 player, you accept it as that's why they're a bottom 6 player. If you slot him up into a role where the holes in his game are more exposed, that's when it becomes a real issue.

I was all over them (management) for pushing him up to play with DK, when it was so clear he wasn't that guy. Since they dropped him down, and limited his minutes to cover some of those skating deficiencies, I'm good with him on the roster.

100% agree.

 

[GordonHowe]

Its weird. Cassidy recently said Krejci never complained about it, but I remember a Fluto article from 2 or so years ago where Krejci was griping about not getting to play with Pasta.

Probably. Don't recall that it was DP88 specifically, but Krejci has been left on an island for a long time. I'd bitch, too. Not much, and certainly not publically, but he has a legitimate beef.

 

[LSCII]

I'm a bit confused. I watched a short clip of the goal on Stanley Cup of Chowder (TM).

Was this a hand pass by Ritchie, and therefore null? Or was the puck simply dislodged from Mrazek's glove?

Having been on the receiving end of countless, seemingly "unfair" calls by ref's, I can well understand Rod Brind'Amour's fury. Apparently, the referees could not, or more likely would not, clarify the nature of their call,

Brind’Amour calls Coyle goal a "crime scene," league a "joke" after controversial call

So it was a goal. Hand pass was nullified by Mrazek's mishandling of the puck. Puck was up in the air, and Ritchie batted it. Then it dropped to the ice and Mrazek tried to cover it, nullifying the hand pass, and it was dislodged by Ritchie and Bjork and it squirted over to Coyle for the goal. It was the right call because it was a goal. It also looked to me that after Ritchie batted it, the Dman for Carolina had it touch his glove and possibly his back. It would have been criminal had they disallowed it.

 

[MMC]

As a Ducks fan it saddens me to here that Ritchie has been underwhelming so far. I was really hoping this trade would help him breakout. I'm still happy with the trade as I like Heinen's versatility, but I still like Ritchie a lot and don't see any reason why he can't be a top 9 player (though you guys of course actually have elite talent, whereas we have a number of Ritchie caliber players playing top 9 minutes). Many Ducks fans were low on Ritchie, but feel he looked much better starting in the 2018-19 season, as he started training and working much harder to improve his game in the previous offseason. I'm not sure if you guys have tried this already, but if you haven't, I believe you guys should put Ritchie and Kase on a line together. They seemed to get the best out of each other when they played on our second line with Henrique. Really hoping he makes you guys really happy with the trade as the playoffs go on and he gets more time to gel with your team.

 

[GordonHowe]

So it was a goal. Hand pass was nullified by Mrazek's mishandling of the puck. Puck was up in the air, and Ritchie batted it. Then it dropped to the ice and Mrazek tried to cover it, nullifying the hand pass, and it was dislodged by Ritchie and Bjork and it squirted over to Coyle for the goal. It was the right call because it was a goal. It also looked to me that after Ritchie batted it, the Dman for Carolina had it touch his glove and possibly his back. It would have been criminal had they disallowed it.

You can still understand Rod's response. Failing to inform a coach about the nature of their call?

I would say, the B's better not allow further complaints to "modify" calls in Carolina's favor, as they apparently did with Berube's bitching last season.

 

[LSCII]

You can still understand Rod's response. Failing to inform a coach about the nature of there call?

I would say, the B's better not allow further complaints to "modify" calls in Carolina's favor, as they apparently did with Berube's bitching last season.

Agreed. There's a big piece of coaching and RB isn't pissing and moaning about the goal so much as he's doing for down the road in this series. Smart by him and I get it was "controversial" but if you watch it in real time and slowed down, it's really pretty clear it was a goal. And I say that as obviously a fan of the Bruins, but someone that has no problem calling it the way it really is. Had it been a hand pass, I'd say it was hand pass. But you can't call it that when your goalie so obviously touched the puck before any Bruin player did.

 

[LouJersey]

I can't believe Carolina let them get away with that. Your goalie has the puck trapped and Ritchie and/or Bjork sweep his glove to dislodge the puck?

If that happened to Tuukka, I sure hope there would have been a big response, at least some cross checks and facewashes, ideally fights.

Tuukka got knocked unconscious by a blue jackets scrub this year and the team did nothing

 

[BruinsNetwork]

I'm a bit confused. I watched a short clip of the goal on Stanley Cup of Chowder (TM).

Was this a hand pass by Ritchie, and therefore null? Or was the puck simply dislodged from Mrazek's glove?

Having been on the receiving end of countless, seemingly "unfair" calls by ref's, I can well understand Rod Brind'Amour's fury. Apparently, the referees could not, or more likely would not, clarify the nature of their call,

Brind’Amour calls Coyle goal a "crime scene," league a "joke" after controversial call

It was both, I think, but they challenged the stoppage— i.e. the puck being dislodged from the glove, insinuating control.

If Ritchie’s touch was a hand pass, then the moment Mrazek touched the puck OT would be negated as he’s still a player.

I understand the frustration by Rod and Carolina, but there’s a reason why there’s usually a second or two between the goalie covering the puck and the refs blowing it dead.

You have to be in control the whole time and, well, Mrazek wasn’t. I think that’s why it was ultimately called a good goal.

 

[rocketdan9]

I watched Pat Maroon cause havoc all night and he’s not the fleetest of foot

Maroon though is at least agile and has better hip mobility

Ritchie is "stiff" as they come + slow accelaration

 

[GordonHowe]

It was both, I think, but they challenged the stoppage— i.e. the puck being dislodged from the glove, insinuating control.

If Ritchie’s touch was a hand pass, then the moment Mrazek touched the puck OT would be negated as he’s still a player.

I understand the frustration by Rod and Carolina, but there’s a reason why there’s usually a second or two between the goalie covering the puck and the refs blowing it dead.

You have to be in control the whole time and, well, Mrazek wasn’t. I think that’s why it was ultimately called a good goal.

Thanks

 

[CDJ]

Tuukka got knocked unconscious by a blue jackets scrub this year and the team did nothing

Brett Ritchie blocked me on insta that night. Never been so disgusted by the team

fortunately they started to play with more sandpaper before the pandemic hit. I was very discouraged by that play tho

 

[rocketdan9]

Haggs not pleased

Haggerty: Nick, you're out of time

 

[CDJ]

Funny- that’s what NBC sports net said to you, pork chop

 

[Blowfish]

Haggs not pleased

Haggerty: Nick, you're out of time

The 24-year-old Ritchie finished without a shot on net in 12:50 of ice time with the Bruins on Wednesday and had four hits while sometimes taking the body against the Hurricanes. But he wasn’t nearly a big enough physical presence, and even worse played a key role in a pair of goals against for the Bruins while making both mental and physical mistakes at crucial moments.

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t going to hammer anybody for it after a playoff win, but Ritchie’s subpar performance certainly didn’t go unnoticed either.

“I think [the young guys] were looking after their own game. I think just one line was on the ice for a couple goals and this is Bjork’s first playoffs with us, Ritchie,” said Cassidy, referencing the third line being on the ice for a pair of goals against as well as Charlie Coyle’s second period goal for Boston. “[The veteran guys] were like ‘hey, listen stuff happens.’ Let’s make sure we tighten up the next time. Keep playing your game. They got a big goal for us, too, so there is a little bit of that communication to the new guys.

 

[LSCII]

Haggs not pleased

Haggerty: Nick, you're out of time

Late to the party as always. It was an issue when he was on the second line playing 17 minutes and getting two minutes of PP TOI against Tampa. In a double OT game he played 12ish minutes and it was fine. He made a couple of mistakes, but he also made a couple of good plays too. Which is what you expect from a bottom 6 player, since their games ostensibly have holes.

 

[Fenian24]

Tuukka got knocked unconscious by a blue jackets scrub this year and the team did nothing

That isn't true, management made excuses and Casdidy sounded like Ghandi in the press conference.

It did eventually lead to Lauzon getting called up and, whatever people think of Ritchie, I believe he would have responded correctly to Rask getting run.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Haggs not pleased

Haggerty: Nick, you're out of time

No one cares what the unemployed Shamu has to say.

 

[AngryMilkcrates]

From the quick video on the Coyle goal I see two issues that could have been reviewed.

1. Hand pass. The jump ball between Ritchie and Fleury? is vague on who touched it last in the video. But who touched it became irrelevant the moment it hit the ice and Mrazek put his glove over it. Toronto backed this up in the call. Done.

2. Goalie Interference. Mrazek was not touched, but Ritchies stick did sweep the puck out from under the goalies glove. Is that legal? Why was there no whistle?
There was no whistle for two reasons. If you rewatch the video when Mrazek puts his glove over the video his does not JUST cover the puck, Ritchies stick is already there so the glove is on the blade as well. THAT is not a clean cover/goalie possession hence no whistle. Therefore, it is within the rules for Ritchie to sweep that puck out to Coyle. Two, this all happens within a second so any whistle would have been a quick one and questionable.

Bruins Highlights: Charlie Coyle Nets Goal Vs. Hurricanes For 2-1 Lead

Good no whistles by the refs, good call by Toronto.

I wont say this on the main boards however because of the firestorm it would continue. The Canes lost, the reason for that they are holding onto this call and the obvious "ref bias" for Boston. Because NOT doing so would force them to admit that their team just got beat in a close OT game. We are JUST as guilty(I am) here of doing the same exact thing.

 

[ON3M4N]

No issue with jettisoning Heinen. The Bruins have plenty of this sort.

Remember, the main point of that trade was salary relief from David's contract, which in large measure they achieved. Due credit. And, they managed to pick up Ritchie and Kase, who, *in limited roles*, might be of value.

From what I've gathered, Ritchie played okay today on the third line and Kase, especially, played well with DK46. I did not expect the latter, and have speculated Kase was "just another guy." Perhaps I was wrong.

Kreji deserves genuine respect for putting up with a revolving door of wingers over a long, long period of time. I appreciate that he hasn't complained about this.

Backes was part of the Kase trade. Ritchie was traded 1v1 for Heinen.

 

[Blowfish]

If Ritchie is this controversial it's Time to check out Stud 3rd line role.