You may recall that Ritchie was suspended by SM-Liiga in December for eight games while playing with Karpat. This was after an incident involving TPS Turku's Markus Nurmi. Both Ritchie and Nurmi were in the corner battling for the puck when Ritchie, seemingly unhappy that he'd lost the battle, pushed Nurmi to the ice, grabbed the back of his head, and starting punching him repeatedly.
Ritchie's suspension ended this week. However, he won't be returning to Karpat. The team released an official statement today saying Ritchie needs to find another hockey club to play for.

The team did not say whether the incident with Nurmi played a factor in its decision, or whether it was simply a matter of not living up to expectations. Ritchie had played 10 games before being suspended, scoring 1 goal and adding 4 assists. For a veteran of 481 regular season NHL games, that's not a great showing for the Finnish Elite League. Karpat indicated that Ritchie, 28, would not be playing for them while he found a new team to sign with.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 23 | 94 ANSWERS BREAKING: Former Top-10 Pick Kicked Off His New Team Do you think Ritchie will find a new pro team to play with? | ||
| Yes | 33 | 35.1 % |
| No | 41 | 43.6 % |
| Not sure | 20 | 21.3 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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LIVE
JUNE 2, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||