David Rittich

BIOGRAPHY

David Rittich was born August 19, 1992 in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia. He is a goaltender in the National Hockey League.

Rittich made his Czech Extraliga debut with BK Mladá Boleslav during the 2014–15 Czech Extraliga season. After two successful performances in the ELH, Rittich was signed to a one-year, two-way contract on 10 June 2016, with the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rittich made his NHL debut against the San Jose Sharks in the third period of the Flames' final regular season game of the year. He made 9 saves on 10 shots after replacing Brian Elliott in the third period to finish the game with a 3–2 loss. Rittich recorded his first NHL win in the 2017–18 season on 25 November 2017 in a game against the Colorado Avalanche. In December 2017, the Flames traded their backup goaltender Eddie Läck away, making Rittich a full-time NHL goaltender for the first time as the backup to Mike Smith. In his first season with the club, Rittich finished with an 8–6–3 record. On 26 July 2018, the Flames re-signed Rittich to a one-year, $800,000 contract extension. On 10 November 2018, Rittich earned his first shutout in the NHL against the Los Angeles Kings in a 1–0 win with the only goal scored by Travis Hamonic. In July 2019 the Flames re-signed David Rittich to a two year contract with an annual value of $2,750,000. In the shortened 2020–21 season, on 22 February 2021, Rittich turned aside 34 shots to become the third goaltender in Flames' history to shutout the Maple Leafs in Toronto, and the first since Yves Belanger accomplished the feat on 31 December 1977, when the franchise was located in Atlanta. It was Rittich's fourth career clean sheet. In the final year of his contract, Rittich was traded by the Flames at the NHL deadline on 11 April 2021, to the Toronto Maple Leafs as goaltending depth in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2022 draft. He made 4 regular season appearances with the Maple Leafs, posting a 1–1–1 record, but was a healthy scratch during the playoffs. As a free agent, Rittich was signed to a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Nashville Predators on 28 July 2021. Following a lone season with the Predators, Rittich left as a free agent and was signed to a one-year, $900,000 contract with the Winnipeg Jets on July 13, 2022.