Ritchie rang in the New Year in style in 2015. Not only did he make his NHL debut with the Dallas Stars on that New Year's Eve night, he also scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot in a 6-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

The goal came at the 7:22 mark of the second period and it made the Orangeville, Ontario, native the first Stars player to score a game-winning goal in his NHL debut since Fabian Brunnstrom on Oct. 15, 2008 against the Nashville Predators.

It was also the first of six goals and nine points Ritchie would score during his 31 games as a rookie in 2014-15. Despite his limited time, Ritchie finished sixth on the Stars and 16th among NHL rookies with 89 hits, the most for any first-year NHL player who appeared in less than 32 games.

Ritchie carried that penchant for hitting into his second season when he recorded 30 hits in eight games for an average of 3.75 per game.

As was the case in 2014-15, Ritchie spent most of his 2015-16 season with Texas, Dallas' American Hockey League affiliate, but after scoring 14 goals and 28 points in 35 games for Texas, he was recalled to Dallas for the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Ritchie made his postseason debut in Game 4 of the second-round series against the St. Louis Blues, and he did what he's best known for, delivering two hits in 6:36 of ice time in the first of what would be a two-game postseason stint.

A product of Sarnia and Niagara of the Ontario Hockey League, Ritchie was a second-round pick (No. 44) of the Stars in the 2011 NHL Draft. Two years later, he skated for Canada in the 2013 World Junior Championship and scored one goal and four points and had a plus-3 rating in six games as Canada finished fourth.

He also represented Canada at the 2011 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he tied for second on the team with four goals and scored seven points in seven games.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• OHL Second All-Star Team (2013)
• Signed as a free agent by Boston, July 1, 2019.