Cal Ritchie continues to impress, but could change be coming

UPDATE: Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Cal Ritchie will make his Islanders debut in place of Barzal after he was late to the rink

The New York Islanders are not getting enough from the fourth line. Besides the fourth line is struggling to produce and is often getting out chanced by opponents. Due to the Max Shabanov injury, the fourth line has changed. Casey Cizikas has remained as the fourth line center but change may be needed and heres why:

Through 9 games played Cizikas has 1 goal and 1 assist. Cizikas is operating at 33.3% in the faceoff dot which makes it harder for the fourth line to be respnsible in the defensive zone when they are often losing face-offs and not having puck possession. Cizikas is struggling in the dot and is only winning about 2.67 faceoffs per games played. He is also averaging 10:14 TOI which would mark the lowest of his career so far. Patrick Roy is certainly sheltering his fourth line due to the lack of production this season, and that doesnt only mean offensivley. Tsyplakov and Holmstrom werent signed to be fourth line players this year. The Islanders certainly have a lot of wingers competing for spots which just supplies them with more depth.

The following 3 fourth line combos have all been outscored by opponents this year. The top 3 fourth line combos have looked like this:

Maclean-Cizikas-Tsyplakov

GF-0

GA-2

SF-9

SA- 6

Maclean-Cizikas-Holmstrom

GF-0

GA-1

SF-4

SA-11

Holmstrom-Cizikas-Tsyplakov

GF- 1

GA- 3

SF-5

SA-9

Now we inject the solution: Cal Ritchie

Cal Ritchie is a high end playmaker with a high intensity motor while being a high end playmaker. Cal Ritchie has only played 3 games in Bridgeport but has tallied a point in all 3 games. Through his 3 games in Bridgeport Cal Ritchie has been a standout using his skating ability to create lanes, while setting up two goals, collecting an assist on both. His last season with the Oshawa Generals he tallied 70 points in 47 games. Now Cal Ritchie is going to be best served in more of a middle six C role. The Islanders view Cal Ritchie as an extremely high end prospect and want to keep him at the center position. Down the middle the Islanders should look to go Horvat, Barzal, Ritchie, Pageau which would make the center group one of the best in the league 1-4.