Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
Ritchie isn't sound defensively... at all. He's been one of the Flames' most porous defensive players all year despite playing against poor competition. He, Pitlick, and Lewis have actually posted the Flames' worst defensive results all season long (despite the latter two presumably being brought in to play defensive roles).
A fourth line can be a scoring line. The Flames' fourth line in 2018–19 was one of their top offensive lines down the stretch. That line had two sub-6' guys on it and two recent Stockton Heat graduates.
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I thought Ritchie was quite good last night actually - given the fourth line expectations. Compared to say Richardson (never) and Lewis (some of the time) he wins puck battles and gets the puck out of his own zone.
Happy to have people earn their way up, or trades to replace all three of them, but Ritchie is my favourite of the three to stay on the roster.