Of course, Calum Ritchie remembers his first and, so far, only NHL goal. It came in the third game of what turned out to be a seven-game stint for the Avalanche last season before he was returned to Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League for a fourth and final season of junior hockey.

And, if things go the way Ritchie hopes, it will be the last goal he ever scores on the Islanders. Acquired on March 6 as a key piece to the Brock Nelson trade, the 20-year-old now hopes to make a long NHL career on Long Island.

“I was pretty surprised when I was traded,” Ritchie said after participating in the first day of Islanders’ summer prospect development camp at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow on Monday. “It’s trade deadline time, anything can happen. So, yeah, when I heard the news I was coming to the Islanders, it was surprising and also really exciting at the same time. I’m looking forward to the opportunity here.”

Summer camp is a long way from training camp in September or the start of the season in October. But there’s no doubt the Islanders hope the playmaking, two-way center again starts the season in the NHL, perhaps even in Nelson’s vacated top-six role.

Ritchie, 20, selected 27th overall in 2023, had just that one goal in the Islanders’ 6-2 win in Colorado on Oct. 14 during his seven games with the Avalanche before compiling 15 goals and 55 assists in 47 OHL games.

“The NHL, the pace of play, it is so high,” the 6-2, 190-pound Ritchie said. “You have to be really good defensively. I thought that was something I continued to work on throughout the season and when I got sent back to Oshawa, I thought I improved a lot in my game.”

Ritchie, who scored on his first shift of the game against the Islanders, called it a “special moment for me and my family. But now, hopefully, I’m not scoring goals on the Islanders anymore.”

Ritchie was teammates in the OHL with Islanders fourth-line center Kyle MacLean. And he was once lacrosse teammates with defense prospect Isaiah George, who played 33 games for the Islanders last season.

“We were little kids, we must have been maybe eight years old,” George said. “That was the last time we had seen each other. When he got traded here, obviously, I knew him as a hockey guy and then I kind of connected the dots that we actually played lacrosse together. It was pretty funny to realize.

“He’s a really good player,” said George, who played against Ritchie in junior hockey. “He’s always a tough guy to play against. It’s good to have him now on our team.”

A report by Daily Faceoff said there have been discussions to move the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Hamilton, Ontario, for the 2026-27 season, where it would play at TD Coliseum, which is undergoing a $300 million renovation. The Islanders have had their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport since 2001. The Islanders, through a spokesperson, said they had no comment on the report.