{"id":554552,"date":"2026-04-17T13:27:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/554552\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:51","slug":"ny-islanders-future-looks-brighter-with-calum-ritchies-next-step-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/554552\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Islanders\u2019 Future Looks Brighter With Calum Ritchie\u2019s Next Step Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

or Calum Ritchie, the end of his rookie season isn\u2019t about looking back \u2014 it\u2019s about what comes next.<\/p>\n

After splitting time between the NHL and AHL, Ritchie made it clear during clean-out day that his focus is already on building off the foundation he established in his first professional campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty happy with my development over the season,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cI went to Bridgeport, worked on my game, learned lots\u2026 and just tried to grow my game over the season, prove to them that I can be here and have an impact.\u201d <\/p>\n

That growth didn\u2019t come without early adversity. Like many young players, Ritchie entered training camp hoping to make the roster, only to be sent down. Instead of letting it derail him, he used it as fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to camp, you want to make the team\u2026 getting sent down is obviously a bit of disappointment,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I went down and worked.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, with a full season under his belt, Ritchie understands what it takes to stick at the NHL level \u2014 and what he needs to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think going back, getting stronger this summer\u2026 you realize how much of a grind that NHL season is,\u201d he said. \u201cBetter skating, better shot, everything. This summer, I\u2019m excited for it. It\u2019ll be a big summer for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the biggest developments in his rookie year was his positional versatility. Though naturally a center, Ritchie spent time on the wing, an adjustment he believes helped round out his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really comfortable as a center\u2026 but playing on the wing was a good learning experience,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helped me with board battles, winning pucks, stuff like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, if he wants to secure a long-term role down the middle, Ritchie knows where the work begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to win faceoffs to do that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"or Calum Ritchie, the end of his rookie season isn\u2019t about looking back \u2014 it\u2019s about what comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-554552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116420288425564946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}