Ritchie selected 45th overall by Minnesota at 2024 NHL Draft
The wait is over, and Ryder Ritchie has a home in the NHL. The Prince Albert Raider forward was taken 45th overall by the Minnesota Wild at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas.
In the 2023-24 season, Ritchie was held out of the lineup for two months due to an injury suffered during the final game before the Christmas break. He ended up missing 21 games, but still put together a respectable campaign, scoring 19 goals and adding 25 assists for 44 points in 47 games.
He was a monster in the playoffs, leading the Raiders in scoring with seven points in five games, and that also translated overseas, as the Kelowna, BC product represented Team Canada at the U18 World Hockey Championship in Finland. He finished in a tie for 11th in tournament scoring, tallying eight points (4G-4A). The semi final and gold medal games were the best performances by him in the whole tournament, as he registered a goal and an assist in each game, as Canada would defeat the United States in the final.
“He elevated his game against Saskatoon, you could see the next level he got to,” head coach Jeff Truitt said. “Confidence with the puck, his agility, his evasiveness around players. You talk about his release, his release is off the charts. He can shoot the puck better than a lot of players, but sometimes people don’t really realize that he does things with the puck to help his teammates.”
In two seasons in the WHL, Ritchie sits just one point shy of 100 in his career, as he will enter the 2024-25 campaign with 99 points (39G-60A) in 108 games.
Ritchie is the 2023 WHL Rookie of the Year, 2023 Hlinka Gretzky gold medalist, and 2024 U18 World Hockey Champion.
