[GranteedEV]

Rittich is more ready than Gillies. If you think otherwise I don't believe you watched any Stockton games. Gillies' rebound control alone is not yet NHL level and his positioning is a work in progress. Rittich is an extremely athletic goalie with great mobility, but his rebound control is also excellent and he makes a lot more saves just by being in great position and freezing the puck. The only place Gillies has Rittich beat might be the glove hand but I think that is more of an improvable skill as an NHL backup behind better defense,than it is an AHL starter scrambling behind a bunch of 19 and 20 year old D (Andersson was a guy whom other teams liked to dump the puck behind and key in on as he didn't skate that well, whereas Kylington was more steady without the puck but sometimes made ill-advised turnovers... and Kayle Doetzal just loved to ice the puck)

So no, I don't think Gillies is just as NHL ready, and honestly I am not even convinced he has more upside as both can do some jaw-dropping athletic things. I am not trying to rag on Gillies here - goaltending is a crapshoot and for all we know Nick Schneider is the only future NHL starter in our organization - but I would not be comfortable with him as a backup next year whereas I welcome Rittich as the backup.