Calgary Flames: Looking back at the Sam Bennett and David Rittich Trades

Let’s revisit the NHL Trade Deadline for the Calgary Flames.

Compared to the moves they made in October’s Free Agency, the Calgary Flames were pretty quiet at the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline. Quiet in the sense that they traded away a player that has been on their team for seven years and a goalie who represented them at the 2019-20 All-Star Game.

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That’s right, Sam Bennett’s and David Rittich’s days as members of the Calgary Flames came to an end on April 12th. Rittich went on to join the Toronto Maple Leafs and Bennett joined the Florida Panthers.

Bennett spent the entirety of his NHL career in Calgary up to this point. He joined the team as an 18-year-old and played with the team for their Playoff run in 2014-15. He never really turned back from there. Sam spent a lot of time rotating between lines and playing in 402 games for the Flames.

Bennet was best known for his accidental Twitter hack that sent out $19 sunglasses to what seemed like half the city of Calgary. That and his iconic moustache that paid tribute to former Flames Stanley Cup winner, Lanny McDonald.

David Rittich or “Big Save Dave” was part of a long string of goaltenders the Flames had through the years. He worked his way up from the Stockton Heat to the Calgary Flames in 2016 when he made his NHL debut. He came up and started as a back-up but ended up earning himself a starting position that saw him playing the majority of the games last season.

Taking a look at the Calgary Flames post Trade Deadline

In the 2019-20 season, Rittich played 48 games even with the shortened season due to the pandemic. This year he has played in 15. He made a career with the Flames that consisted of 130 games and plenty of notable moments including his infamous stick flip last January after his Shootout victory against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames did get a return on their investments as most trades do. In return for David Rittich, the Flames got a third-round pick from the Leafs in the 2022 draft. Sam Bennett’s trade got the Flames a promising prospect in Emil Heineman and Florida’s second-round pick in the 2022 draft. In addition to Bennett, the Flames also threw in their sixth-round pick in the 2022 draft into the deal. The Flames did not give up any additional picks in the Rittich trade.

Brad Treliving spoke to the media after the Deadline officially passed, saying,

"“Today’s a day on the calendar where there’s a deadline for transactions up until the season’s done. We did things we felt were prudent here today. We felt if we were going to make these moves, these moves weren’t going to be available to us beyond today. We did do that and it doesn’t signal anything other than we had some business to get done today and we got it done.”"

That in itself does not guarantee there are not more core players out the door in the summer and this team could be looking quite different come the 2021-22 season. Another comment from the Flames GM included: “We’ll deal with the offseason in the offseason,” so don’t expect the trade rumors to go away anytime soon.

To fill some of the gaps the recent trades have brought in, some call-ups from the Stockton Heat were necessary. Forward Adam Ruzicka and Goaltender Atyom Zagidulin were added to the Flames Taxi Squad.

Ruzicka has yet to play a game with the Flames or the NHL at all for that matter and was sent back to rejoin the Heat shortly after this move was made.  However, he has been making some impressive contributions to the Heat’s top line and with the Heat’s season coming to an end on Thursday, more opportunities may arise for the young center.

Zagidulin got his NHL debut this year and has only played in one game for the Flames so far despite being back and forth on the Taxi Squad. He has played in six games for the Heat this season earning a .911 Save Percentage and 2.86 Goals Against Average so far. Louis Domingue is also up with the Flames so either are available to back up Jacob Markstrom.

Some of the players such as Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Mikael Backlund took to social media to send their well wishes to their departing teammates. David Rittich actually ended up catching the flight to Toronto with the Flames and got extra time to say his goodbyes as a result.

Since leaving the Flames, Bennett and Rittich have had opposite fates to put it frankly. David Rittich has been struggling in his opportunities with the Toronto Maples Leafs and is starting to face the wrath of that intense hockey market with the word “Wretched,” being thrown around as an evaluation of his performances as of late.

In his three games with the Maple Leafs so far he has allowed nine goals and his team stats sit at an .877 Save Percentage and a 3.36 Goals Against Average.

Sam Bennett, on the other hand, is thriving with his new squad, nearly matching his total of 12 points in 38 games for the Flames this season in just seven contests for the Panthers. The forward has four goals and six assists for 10 points for Florida with a plus / minus rating of +10, and he will be heading to the postseason with his new team while the Flames will likely be watching from home.

The Calgary Flames may not see Sam Bennett on the opposing side of any of their games this season but if they are able to make up ground in the Playoff race, they might get to face Rittich in the postseason. The Flames have eight games to go in the regular season and have six points to make up on the Montreal Canadiens after their 2-1 loss to the Habs on April 26th. Their next game will be on Thursday for the second to last instalment of the regular-season Battle of Alberta series. Game time is at 7:00 pm (MST).