Darren Ritchie heads back to professional hockey

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This article was published 17/04/2021 (1886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows Darren Ritchie that Thursday was a tough day for him.

The 47-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings general manager, who wears his heart on his sleeve, had to share the news with staff and players he was leaving the team to join the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

The call, which included his son Nolan, a Wheat Kings forward, came via Zoom.

“It was hard, it was very hard,” Ritchie said. “I got emotional. It was harder than I thought. That for me was a really hard conversation to have.”

It’s no wonder. He’s been a Wheat King for more than a third of his life.

His time with Brandon began on the ice. He played four games with the team in the 1990-91 season as a 16-year-old, and then spent most of the next four years with the club.

With a tremendous shot and the benefit of skating with Marty Murray, Ritchie contributed 152 goals and 126 assists for 278 points in 232 regular season games. He added 41 more points in 36 playoff games, including 22 goals.

He was named the league’s most sportsmanlike player and a Eastern Conference first-team all-star in 1994-95.

Following his graduation from the club after the 1995 Memorial Cup, Ritchie spent two seasons in the North American minors before a year in Italy and six in Germany.

He retired after the 2003-04 season.

On July 9, 2007, the Wheat Kings added Ritchie as an assistant coach after the departure of Brad Wells. Ritchie had been with the under-18 Wheat Kings, helping lead them to a league title the season before.

“We anticipate Darren will make a real positive contribution to our organization,” former Wheat Kings owner, general manager and head coach Kelly McCrimmon said at the time in a team news release. “He is an alumnus, that has great experience as a player, and now more recently as a coach. We are excited to add him to the fold.”

Ritchie stayed in the job for nine years. His final WHL game as a coach came on May 13, 2016 in Kent, Wash., when the Wheat Kings beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 8-4 to capture the WHL title. Two weeks later, on May 25, the Wheat Kings lost 2-1 in overtime to the Red Deer Rebels at the Memorial Cup, and while Ritchie had no idea at the time, it would be his final game behind the bench.

That summer, McCrimmon took a job as the assistant general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights, and resigned as head coach and general manager. Days later, director of scouting Wade Klippenstein accepted a job with the Colorado Avalanche.

On Aug. 18, 2016, the club announced that Ritchie was replacing Klippenstein. Ritchie oversaw three WHL drafts, and after Grant Armstrong’s three-year contract wasn’t renewed, he was promoted to GM on July 12, 2019.

It was a big step, but he said he learned a lot in the top job.

“Patience, understanding everybody is different and how you have to be organized,” Ritchie said. “You’re dealing with a lot of things. As a coach, you’re just dealing with the players for the most part, where a general manager is dealing with agents, players, your scouting staff, your office staff, there is a lot to go into it. You have to be organized and make sure you’re prepared every day. I try to treat everybody the same, no matter what they do on our team. It doesn’t matter. We’re all here to help each other. I always wanted to make sure that I helped people and made people feel like a part of our situation.”

When the offer from Toronto was made, Ritchie didn’t reach out to his mentor.

Ritchie is very close to McCrimmon, who now serves as general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights, but the two didn’t talk about this decision. It made a lot of sense for Ritchie, who is considered a shrewd judge of hockey talent by other scouts.

“My passion is scouting,” Ritchie said. “That’s what I love doing.”

Sadly for him, it means leaving the team he has grown up with twice.

While Ritchie has served a lot of roles with the club, he’s thankful for the opportunities and hopeful that one thing has remained consistent.

“I’ve always been very grateful to Kelly and obviously to Jared to be a part of this,” Ritchie said. “It’s a great organization. I told the players I love being a Wheat King. There is something about it. I don’t know how to explain it. There is just a certain pride I have being a part of this organization.

“I’ve been fortunate enough that we won in (2016) with that team and fortunate to play and work with a lot of players through the years. I have great relationships still to this day that I will cherish the rest of my life and hold dear.

“You do have an opportunity to have an impact on young guys’ lives and I hope I’ve had a positive impact on most of them. I love everything about being a Wheat King.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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