Cal Ritchie is going to have a big role on the Islanders this season, but the job description comes with a clear warning label: don’t turn him into Mathew Barzal.
That’s the balance the Islanders are trying to strike as they sort through Barzal’s early-season absence and lean on a 21-year-old who already looks ready for more. Ritchie has spent camp in a second-line center role and on the first power-play unit, and by all accounts he has handled the increased responsibility with more strength, more confidence and a more NHL-ready presence.
But the Islanders aren’t asking him to become a one-man solution.
Barzal’s expected absence became official last Wednesday, when the team said he would not skate for two weeks because of inflammation in his left knee, a problem tied to the kneecap injury that required surgery and cost him the final 31 games of 2024-25. His status for the regular-season opener in Toronto on Sept. 30 is doubtful, and the Islanders still had no update on Monday.
That puts a spotlight on Ritchie, but coach Pete DeBoer made it clear the spotlight does not come with Barzal-sized expectations.
“That’s a lot to hang on him at this point in his career and I don’t want to do that,” DeBoer said. “He’s an exciting young player with a really high ceiling that we’re glimpsing now.
But he’s not replacing Mat Barzal at this point. If he’s out, we’re going to have to do it by committee and everyone is going to have to roll their sleeves up and do that.
I’m excited about working with Ritchie and I’m excited about where his potential can go. But that wouldn’t be filling Barzal’s shoes if Barzal is out.”
The Islanders are expected to use Ritchie between Brayden Schenn and Matias Maccelli in Tuesday night’s preseason game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. He already logged a heavy load in Sunday’s preseason opener, skating 19:22 - the most of any forward - and picking up an assist in a 2-1 loss to the Devils at the Prudential Center. That night, he centered Ondrej Palat and prospect Victor Eklund on the top line.
Once Barzal is healthy, he would likely slide back into a group with Ritchie and Schenn, the trio that finished last season together.
Ritchie has been carrying expectations almost from the moment the Islanders got him. The 27th overall pick in 2023 arrived from the Avalanche on March 6, 2025, in the deal that sent Brock Nelson to Colorado.
That move made him a natural successor to Nelson, the Islanders’ top goal scorer in five straight seasons from 2019-24. Now, with Barzal sidelined, the comparisons have only grown louder.
Still, the message from inside the room is simple: Ritchie is not a clone, and nobody should be treating him like one.
“He worked hard this summer, he looks great out there,” captain Bo Horvat told Newsday. “I think he’s a lot faster than people give him credit for. I think his speed is going to continue to get faster.”
“I think he looks a lot stronger this year,” fellow top-six forward Kyle Palmieri told Newsday. “I think his confidence grew as the season went on last year.
He was getting ice time. As a young guy, having the opportunity to learn on the fly is big.”
At 6-3 and 196 pounds, Ritchie brings size and enough smoothness on the ice to make plays for himself and for teammates, even if his skating will never be mistaken for Barzal’s. He says the physical part of his game has taken a step.
“I just feel stronger,” Ritchie told Newsday after Sunday’s match. “There were times throughout the game where I was able to work through checks a little bit better.
My legs felt stronger and I feel a bit faster. That’s stuff that I want to continue to work on.”
That growth matters because his path to this point has not been linear. A year ago at this time, he didn’t make the final cut in camp and started the season in the AHL. He spent 2024-25 playing his fourth and final Ontario Hockey League season with Oshawa before arriving in the NHL for good.
DeBoer believes the shift in his training has helped bring out more of what the Islanders hoped to see.
“I think up until this past summer he still trained like a junior player and relied on a lot of his natural abilities,” DeBoer said. “He’s a big-bodied kid but I don’t think he had really trained like an NHL player until this summer and that was the goal.”
The Islanders also trimmed their camp roster Monday, sending defenseman Vladimir Dravecky, goalie Burke Hood and forwards Tomas Poletin and Luca Romano back to their junior clubs.
Ritchie, though, is staying put. And the Islanders don’t need him to be Barzal or Brock Nelson. They need him to be Cal Ritchie, only better.
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