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Ritola: 'I'm going to show people' Red Wings hope Swedish winger set to drop "lazy" tag ... 999 If you’ve heard anything about Mattias Ritola, you’ve undoubtedly heard that the teenage Swede has been slapped with the “skilled but lazy” tag. Hakan Andersson heard the same thing, too. Until May. Andersson caught word that Ritola was working out like a madman in the off-season, and immediately started working the phones. Soon, he was connected with someone working at a hockey school with Ritola. “He said, opposite to everything I had heard about Mattias Ritola, he was working out three times a day,” said Andersson, the director of European scouting for the Detroit Red Wings. “The guy was up at nine in the morning and (Ritola) had already been out running. On lunch break between 12 and 1:30, he was in the gym, and when they got off the ice at seven, he was there for 30 minutes shooting the puck.” The Red Wings used that knowledge to select Ritola in the third round (103rd overall) in Saturday’s National Hockey League entry draft. Ritola, a 6-foot, 190-pound winger, didn’t measure up to high expectations in his draft year. He scored 10 goals and added 16 assists for 26 points in 27 games with Leksands and Frolunda of the Swedish under-20 league. “He thought that he could do a lot better and so did other people,” said Andersson. “He was disappointed in his performance.” Andersson said Ritola was plagued with inconsistency throughout the season. He would stand out for two shifts with dazzling plays, only to disappear for the next five or six shifts. “That doesn’t usually excite me ... you like the talent, but you hate when they’re not dedicated,” said Andersson. “I think there were teams who had heard those rumors and were shying away from him a little bit.” One thing Ritola has always had going for him is a terrific skill-set, which he put on display at the world under-18 championship in the Czech Republic in April. He had a goal and three assists in seven games. “He was always a big talent in Sweden ... I’ve heard the name for two years before this year,” said Andersson. “He’s just a tremendous guy with the puck. He can score, he can beat you 1-on-1, he can make a great play. He just has great offensive instincts. He’s an offensively-dangerous guy.” Andersson figures if the work ethic has caught up — and he believes it has — the Red Wings have a potential scoring-line winger in the system. “He’s trying as hard as I’ve ever seen any young kid,” said Andersson. Andersson sees similar potential in Ritola as he does in Christofer Lofberg and Johan Ryno, a pair of super-sized, super-skilled Swedes also chosen in Saturday’s draft. “The three Swedes we took have very exciting upside,” said Andersson. “Those guys are not fourth-line material. If they make it, they will be impact guys, they will be producing. They might not all make it, but if they do ... ” Andersson said he had an interview with Ritola the day before the draft, and walked away clearly impressed with the winger’s attitude. “I said, ‘I’ve heard rumors about you, you’re not working very hard,’” said Andersson. “He said, ‘It’s changed. I’m going to show people.’ Now, will he keep it up for the rest of his career? That remains to be seen.” Matthew Wuest is a freelance hockey writer. You can contact him by email at wuest@redwingscentral.com. |
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