The Devils have added another name to their goaltending mix, signing David Rittich to a one-year contract worth $1 million.
Rittich arrives with plenty of NHL miles on him, even if the path has been anything but direct. He went undrafted before landing with the Calgary Flames as a free agent on June 13, 2016.
Most of his 2016-17 season was spent in the AHL with the Stockton Heat, though he did get his first NHL action on April 8, 2017, against the San Jose Sharks. The following season, he split time between Calgary and Stockton.
His first full NHL season came in 2018-19, and he stayed with the Flames through the end of 2020-21 before being dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 11, 2021, in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. After that, Rittich kept moving, spending time with the Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings and, most recently, the New York Islanders.
Last season with the Islanders, Rittich appeared in 30 games and posted a 14-10-3 record. That kind of steady production is part of the appeal here: he’s not being brought in as a headline-grabber, but as a goalie who can hold the fort.
The contract is one-way, which means Rittich will earn the same salary whether he’s with the Devils in the NHL or with the Utica Comets in the AHL. That gives New Jersey some flexibility, especially with chatter already surrounding Nico Daws potentially becoming Jake Allen’s backup after former Devils starter Jacob Markstrom was traded to the Florida Panthers.
So the question now is straightforward: does New Jersey keep Rittich in the NHL and leave Daws in Utica, or does Daws get his chance while Rittich helps stabilize the Comets? That decision will come into focus once training camp begins.
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