The Dallas Stars, in the midst of quite the hot streak, have recalled winger Brett Ritchie to the NHL.
The 22 year old winger was the Stars 2nd round pick, 44th overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. In 22 games this season for the Texas Stars Ritchie has eleven goals and seven assists. For his career Ritchie has 66 points in 90 AHL games.
The move comes unexpectedly. It’s unclear at the moment if he will be in the lineup tonight against the Arizona Coyotes. Ritchie participated in a full 90 minute practice this morning in Austin. In fact, he apparently had no idea as of this morning:
Ritchie had no plan of heading to Dallas this morning. Was planning on watching USA-CAN with #TxStars teammates this afternoon.
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) December 31, 2014
Ritchie is expected to be a big piece of the future in Dallas. This is an exciting move for the franchise during the best stretch of hockey they have put together all season. The Stars are expecting big things from Ritchie in the long run, and hopefully we’ll get to see the start of his NHL career soon.