I don't believe Rittich is the teams weakness by a long shot. Rittich has been solid and is doing everything you could hope for out of a second year goalie taking over the starting reins.
Our weaknesses are:
- A reliable 2nd goalie that can be counted on to spell Rittich everyone once in a while. Smith may have a fair amount of wins but he cannot be counted on enough to stop pucks.
- A top 6 RWer to play with Tkachuk and Backlund so we can have 2 scoring lines. Throughout the course of the season only the top line has been consistent offensivly. I've liked the 3rd and 4th line contributions lately and think they are starting to develop some chemistry but the 2nd line just isn't strong enough IMO.
- A lack of size and grit throughout the lineup and a need for some more depth options.
Adding a guy like Stone would go a long way to solving most of the issues but I'm not sure how to fix the goaltending issue without risking making it even worse (considering Smith is part of the strong team chemistry the team has going).
Either way Rittich is not a problem in my books other than the fact I think he could use a solid partner to create a reliable tandem.
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