With three of their goaltenders on the active roster headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, the Los Angeles Kings have decided to preliminary take one off the market. The organization announced a one-year, $1MM contract extension for backup goaltender David Rittich.
After a quality season serving as the backup to Connor Hellebuyck with the Winnipeg Jets organization in 2022-23, the Kings quickly signed Rittich to a one-year, $875K contract on the first day of free agency last summer. Originally positioned as Los Angeles’ third-string goaltender at the beginning of the 2023-24 NHL season, Rittich would get the opportunity to serve as the Kings’ primary backup option after Pheonix Copley lost his season to a torn ACL in early December.
Putting together one of the best individual seasons of his career, Rittich appeared in 24 games for Los Angeles down the stretch, securing a 16-6-3 record while posting a .921 save percentage and 2.15 GAA. Although the starting role for the Kings is up in the air headed into the offseason, Rittich should already be penciled in as the team’s backup to start the 2024-25 NHL season.
With Rittich now off the board, the already lackluster talent available at the goaltending position in free agency has continued to thin out. Not in any order, the top available unrestricted free agents in the crease has been whittled down to Anthony Stolarz, Cam Talbot, Kevin Lankinen, Alex Nedeljkovic, Ilya Samsonov, and Laurent Brossoit.
Solid move by the Kings management
A better move would have been not to trade for DuBois and focus on acquiring a legit NHL starting goalie, but hey who would have figured that Copley wasn’t the answer?
Big save Dave needs a better agent.
Good sign!