It’s probably not a stretch to say that David Rittich has had a meteoric rise in the Calgary Flames goaltending ranks. Since entering the organization as a European free agent signing just four short years ago, he’s quickly become one of the most important players.
Originally brought in for depth, Rittich rose to the challenge and became Stockton’s starter in 2016-17. In 2017-18, his strong start earned him the backup job in Calgary after Eddie Lack faltered early in the season. In 2018-19 he thrived in net early in the season when Mike Smith struggled, to the point where he had the second-fewest regulation losses in the 2018 half of the schedule – only Andrei Vasilevskiy had fewer – and was discussed as a potential Vezina candidate.