Wild second-round pick Ryder Ritchie comfortable in first prospect camp

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Ryder Ritchie is beginning his quest for an NHL job this week, joining the Wild’s prospects for three days of practices leading to this weekend’s fourth annual Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase in St. Louis.

Minnesota’s second-round pick in June’s amateur draft just turned 18 on Aug. 3 and is a reedy 6-foot-1, 175 pounds. Traded to Medicine Hat of the WHL, he’s expected in Alberta this fall, where he joins a team stacked with NHL prospects expected to make a run at winning the major juniors’ heaviest league.

But Ritchie isn’t intimidated by the company he has this week at TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul, where he was reunited with a few dozen of the Wild’s best prospects two months after his first NHL development camp.

“I feel comfortable here, I feel confident,” he said after a Wednesday morning practice. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The son of former NHL wing Byron Ritchie, Ryder missed nearly two months of his second season with Prince George with a lower-body injury last winter but still finished with 19 goals and 25 assists in 47 games. In May, he scored four goals and eight points for Canada at the IIHF junior world championships.

The Wild used the 45th overall pick on Ritchie on June 29, and with first-round pick Zeev Buium headed back to the University of Denver this fall, he’s the highest 2024 pick in camp.

Playing in the WHL, he said, has prepared him for his next step.

“You’re used to getting hit, you’re used to playing against big, strong guys,” Ritchie said. “I mean, I was 16 at the time playing against a lot of 20-year-olds, so that was kind of part of it. But I think it helps coming up here, because I’m playing against some 25-year-olds. That part of it helps.”

Barring an injury, there isn’t a sure-fire opening for a prospect on the Wild’s NHL roster this fall, maybe a third-line forward job. Training camp begins next Thursday, and Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight — former third-round draft picks coming off of monster CHL seasons — are the likeliest candidates already in St. Paul this week.

The group will practice again Thursday and Friday before flying Saturday morning to St. Louis, where they will play against prospects the Chicago Blackhawks at 6 p.m. Saturday, then the Blues prospects at 3 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s going to be cool playing for the Minnesota Wild, per se, putting on that jersey with all the other prospects,” he said. “It’s a moment I’m really looking forward to, and I can’t wait to showcase myself and compete out there.”

Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase

At Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. All practice sessions and games will be free and open to the public.

Friday: Blues prospects practice, 10:30 a.m.; Blackhawks prospects practice, 11:30 a.m.; Blues vs. Blackhawks, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Blues prospects practice, 10:30 a.m.; Blackhawks prospects practice, 11:30 a.m.*; Blackhawks vs. Wild, 6 p.m.

Sunday: Wild prospects practice, 8:30 a.m.; Blues prospects practice, 9:30 a.m.; Blues vs. Wild, 3 p.m.

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