As the summer moves on, the Stars continue to get their house in order for the season, which starts in just over three months. The team’s latest move was to re-sign restricted free-agent right wing Brett Ritchie on Thursday to a two-year, $3.5 million contract. That works out to a cap hit of $1.75 million per year.
Ritchie is probably going to start the season in the bottom six, with Alex Radulov, Jason Spezza and Martin Hanzal all looking like locks in front of him, for now. Of course, we saw Remi Elie playing beside Benn and Seguin last season, so maybe it’s best to just wait and see.
After this move, the Stars have about $3 million left in cap space with three restricted free agents to sign this offseason: Gemel Smith, Radek Faksa and Jamie Oleksiak. One has a hard time seeing how all of those players will get signed for under $3 million total (though Smith is much more likely to be in the AHL), but Jim Nill’s salary cap management to date doesn’t lead one to believe that there will be any major issues in sorting out the nine(!) defensemen and locking down Radek Faksa.
Here’s the official release:
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has re-signed right wing Brett Ritchie to a two-year, $3.5-million contract.
Ritchie, 24, posted 24 points (16-8=24) in 78 games for Dallas during the 2016-17 regular season. His +11 rating was the best on the team and his 15 even-strength goals were tied for the team lead. He was also fourth on the team in both goals and home goals (10).
In his career, Ritchie has played 117 regular-season games over three seasons with Dallas. In total, he has posted 34 points (22-12=34). Ritchie also appeared in two games for the Stars during the 2015-16 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was a part of the 2013-14 Texas Stars Calder Cup Champion team, contributing 48 points (22-26=48) in 68 regular-season games and 11 points (7-4=11) in 13 games during the playoff run.
“Brett is a big, physical presence who also possesses the ability to score,” said Nill. “We feel that he has just scratched the surface in regards to his ability and that he will continue to elevate his game.”
Ritchie has represented Canada on multiple occasions, including the 2011 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he tallied seven points (4-3=7) in seven games, and the 2013 World Junior Championships, where he registered four points (1-3=4) in six games.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound native of Orangeville, Ontario was originally selected by Dallas in the second round (44th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.