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Article: Boston University Is A Good Choice For Ryder Ritchie's Development


Robert Brent
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It will be interesting to see how he does in his first year at Boston U.

Ritchie was solid in his draft year, but there's no doubt the change of teams that gave him ample time with the presumed #1 pick in the 2026 draft may have elevated his stats. Gavin McKenna had 63 assists in 61 games as a 16 year old in the WHL. He jumped that up to 88 assists in 56 games as a 17 year old last season, then tallied 29 assists in 16 playoff games.

I was surprised that McKenna chose Penn State, but I guess they had a pretty good recruiting year after their surprising run to the Frozen Four.

No doubt that Ritchie will play with some NHL bound talent at Boston University, such as Cole Eiserman, but it might be tougher to tally goals himself without the elite setup man--Eiserman had just 11 assists last season in 39 games. Should be a good experience for him to play against the more mature players in the NCAA even if he doesn't have a massive scoring year.

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The NCAA allowing CHL players to play is huge for prospect development.  CHL doesn't have huge mature players like some NCAA teams do.  The CHL leagues are split into trended categories.  QMJL plays little defense, WHL is a bit better on defense but still not a priority, OHL is more balanced but at the end of the day they are all kids.  The NCAA has a bigger spectrum of size and maturity.  

The rub is that first round picks will get the best minutes and then the rest get what is left.  The reason the first round picks get more quality time is for recruiting going forward.  If the team plays undrafted or lower round picks over first round picks that team will lose out on future recruits.

Where does Ritchie sit on this list?  We will have to wait and see. 

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