Fritsche was ranked in the top ten in nearly every pre-draft report, but shoulder concerns scared teams away.

After playing for parts of four seasons with the Blue Jackets, Fritsche was traded along with Nikolai Zherdev to the New York Rangers on July 2, 2008, for defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Bäckman.

[2] After finishing the season with the Wild, Fritsche was not tendered a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2009.

Zurich won the 2013–14 NLA championship and Fritsche played a pivotal role in scoring four point in four games during the finals.

Fritsche won gold with the US national team at the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships[6] and also represented the country at the 2005 WJC.