Calum Ritchie wants to be great. A former Islanders player is helping him get there

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For Calum Ritchie, the 2024-25 season has been, shall we say, hectic.

Or, as Ritchie put it to two weeks ago as his Oshawa Generals were nearing the end of the OHL regular season, “really cool.”

His itinerary to date:

• Training camp with the Colorado Avalanche, where he makes the Stanley Cup contender’s opening-night roster.
• Seven NHL games, including his first professional goal, scored at home against the New York Islanders.
• A return to Oshawa and the OHL nine days after scoring that goal.
• A spot on Canada’s World Junior team in Ottawa, where Ritchie wears an ‘A’ as an alternate captain.
• Another return to Oshawa after Canada falls short of a medal.
• A trade, from the Avs to the Islanders, on the eve of the NHL trade deadline.

It’s been a lot, even for a prospect whose status has risen from “highly touted” — when Colorado selected Ritchie 27th overall in 2023 — to “can’t-miss NHLer” in less than two years. Through the up-and-down journey of this season, though, Ritchie hasn’t wavered no matter where he’s been.

“He’s the X factor for us in terms of dominating games,” said Brad Malone, who retired last spring after a 13-year pro career to become Oshawa’s development coach and took over as the Generals’ head coach in December. “He’s the piece that drives us.”

Now, as Oshawa tries to kick off a long OHL playoff run, currently leading 2-1 in its best-of-seven first-round series with Brampton, Ritchie is squarely focused on the present. And he’s taken an unusual step for an amateur player to make sure of that.

Andrew Ladd retired from hockey after the 2021-22 season and 1,001 NHL games, winning a Stanley Cup as a rookie in Carolina in 2005-06 and a second in Chicago in 2009-10 before captaining the Thrashers/Jets for six years. His last stop came as a big free-agent signing with the Islanders in summer 2016, a move that wasn’t great from a hockey standpoint for player or franchise, and his time with the Islanders ended in the AHL before a salary-dump trade to Arizona for his final NHL season.

One thing that helped Ladd through those tough final years was having a mental performance coach on call. He hired Dan Leffelaar, who works with pro athletes across a variety of sports, at various stages of their careers, to help them maintain focus and sort through issues they face.

“I wished I’d done it so much earlier in my career,” Ladd said. When Ladd retired, he joined Leffelaar’s now thriving group under the Novus Global umbrella — the people there work with corporate clients, artists and athletes.

Ladd’s client list now includes two coaches, five NHL players and one NFL player — and Ritchie, by far the youngest of them all.

“To have that support system in place, it’s really huge,” Ladd said. “Everyone has their team now, their trainers and skills coaches to really lay a good foundation on the physical side. You’re starting to see that translate to the mental side as well.”

Ritchie’s once-a-week meetings with Ladd can touch on any number of topics — and Ritchie’s packed season has provided many opportunities to discuss the challenges of staying present when that physical presence is often changing locations. There’s also the motivational piece, and the twin disappointments of being cut from the Avalanche and returning to the OHL after falling short at World Juniors.

“He has a very clear idea of the player he wants to be, the leader he wants to be and the professional he wants to be,” Ladd said. “That really leads the way in our discussions. Navigating the disappointment of getting cut from the NHL, if you can really slow down that process and focus on, ‘What’s the most powerful way I can show up as a leader for my peers?’ There are opportunities for him to grow in many different ways.”

Ritchie found Ladd through former Avalanche player Andrew Cogliano, who was a good sounding board for a young first-rounder at his first pro camp ahead of the 2023-24 season.

“It’s mostly about keeping me organized, keeping me focused, different things that come up that I want to go over,” Ritchie said. “Just keeping me at my best. (Ladd) is a great mentor, a great guy to learn from.”

And, as it happens, someone who could give Ritchie a little insight into the Islanders. The results may not have been there during Ladd’s tenure with the team, but he’s excited for Ritchie’s prospects. “The hockey world ends up being pretty small when you spend some time in it,” Ladd said. “It’s a great organization. The Islanders should be excited about the player and person they’re getting.”

Ritchie has length, vision and a real utility to his game. The leadership part is certainly there too.

“Just look at our record without him versus with him,” Malone said. Oshawa was 4-7-1 while Ritchie was spending his month with the Avalanche; they reeled off seven wins in their next eight games after he came back.

“His commitment to Oshawa, just keeping his foot on the gas and being consistent both times he came back to us, it’s impressive,” Malone said. “The World Junior one was tough — that’s obviously every Canadian kid’s dream, to win gold on home soil. That was tough on everyone.

“Even when he heard about the trade, we got the news around midnight (on March 6). It wasn’t a shock but it hits you hard, especially when he’s played games for the Avalanche. But he goes out the next night, scores a goal in the first period, just pushes everything to the side and does his job. That’s not easy.”

Comparing prospects to established NHL players can be a dangerous game, but Malone gives a knowing laugh when asked who Ritchie reminds him of.

“I played four years at North Dakota and one of them was with Brock Nelson,” Malone said of the long-time Islanders center who was sent to Colorado in the Ritchie deal. “Ironically, I really think it’s Brock. Their calm away from the rink, the compete, the skill, I really go to Brock when I see Ritch play and know who he is. So when I heard who he was traded for I thought, ‘The Islanders got themselves a young replacement.’”

Trying to become the next Brock Nelson will bring a decent amount of pressure — Nelson was a quiet, beloved player who ranks in the top-five in games played and goals in Islanders franchise history. There’s also the pressure of being the only new, young face coming to a team in need of a roster makeover. Lou Lamoriello isn’t going to flip any other veterans for such a tidy return this summer, so unless the Islanders general manager hits a home run in free agency, Ritchie will be in the spotlight when training camp starts.

With Ladd’s help, he’ll be equipped for that challenge. He’s already faced plenty of them in just the last seven months, hasn’t he?

“The main goal is right here, trying to win an OHL title, a Memorial Cup,” Ritchie said. “Then it’s right back to work, development camp, getting ready for training camp. It’s a big summer for me. But I don’t really think about what’s to come. I just want to be the best version of myself I can be right now.”

(Photo of Ritchie with Team Canada at the 2025 World Juniors: Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP)

This news was originally published on this post .

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