01/17/2013: Richards finally back, front and center

[slipknottin]

He did make a beautiful pass to lundqvist in overtime though

 

[KreiMeARiver*]

Can I change my vote to 0 points? He's turrible.

Stepan scored and Boyle is out of the lineup so I need to direct my anger somewhere.

LOUD NOISES.

haha my thoughts exactly

 

[NYR Viper]

He has been bad. Plain and simple. He has looked slow both mentally and physically.

 

[Trxjw]

Yeah, another poor effort from him. Continues to look slow and completely out of sync. Terrible effort on the PP as well.

 

[NYR Viper]

I can't get over how bad he has looked this season. The guy is making 6.7 million for the next 8 years. He is already looking slow.

Skating is at a premium in this league. He has a high hockey IQ, that much is evident, but he is lacking in other areas for sure.

Just very disappointed in his game so far.

 

[slipknottin]

Still thought they should have traded gaborik to La for schenn, Simmonds, and the 2nd round pick.
Then no need to sign Richards. Have tons of cap space to resign younger players.

They wouldn't have the top 1st line center, but they don't have that with Richards now either.

And simmonds with his 25+ goals and physical style would fit better here than gaborik does.

 

[NYR Viper]

I am still in favor of trying to trade him this off-season.

I said it before this season started and his play is only re-affirming what I thought would happen.

 

[mas0764]

Why wouldn't he be a buyout candidate?

He's getting paid as an elite player. It's not just the points, but the impact. Gaborik is an elite player (most nights), in that he can score at anytime. Nash is an elite player -- he's slumping right now in terms of putting pucks in the net and he's still our leading scorer, and he adds a dimension that teams just can't defend against, which opens up everything else for other players.

Brad Richards is a step slow and he's not making plays. I don't want to say "empty stats" but they kinda are.

Put it this way. If we could cut ties with Richards and bring in another Nash or Gaborik instead, would you? Hell yes. Roll with Stepan-Miller-Boyle down the center and you've got guys like Lindberg coming up soon too.

Or maybe his salary can be re-appropriated towards a younger FA top line center.

 

[Thirty One]

Still thought they should have traded gaborik to La for schenn, Simmonds, and the 2nd round pick.
Then no need to sign Richards. Have tons of cap space to resign younger players.

They wouldn't have the top 1st line center, but they don't have that with Richards now either.

And simmonds with his 25+ goals and physical style would fit better here than gaborik does.

That sounds like a team that may squeeze into the playoffs.

 

[NYR Viper]

Why wouldn't he be a buyout candidate?

He's getting paid as an elite player. It's not just the points, but the impact. Gaborik is an elite player (most nights), in that he can score at anytime. Nash is an elite player -- he's slumping right now in terms of putting pucks in the net and he's still our leading scorer, and he adds a dimension that teams just can't defend against, which opens up everything else for other players.

Brad Richards is a step slow and he's not making plays. I don't want to say "empty stats" but they kinda are.

Put it this way. If we could cut ties with Richards and bring in another Nash or Gaborik instead, would you? Hell yes. Roll with Stepan-Miller-Boyle down the center and you've got guys like Lindberg coming up soon too.

Or maybe his salary can be re-appropriated towards a younger FA top line center.

That is my thinking as well

 

[slipknottin]

That sounds like a team that may squeeze into the playoffs.

This season. Probably. But in a few years it would be a tremendous team.

Should have the time to keep building too. Everyone on the rangers is young enough

 

[Thirty One]

I think Richards will rebound like he did last season. I think next year he'll have an early slow stretch and everyone will jump off a bridge and the survivors will see a strong stretch drive.

But I've maintained that buying him out in the summer of 2014 should be a gimme.

I mean, we're talking about the years from age 34-40 at a cap-hit of $6.667M. If he was 34 and a free agent would anyone want to sign him to a deal worth $6.667M per for 6 years?

 

[bubba5]

He will be bought out after the 2013-2014 season, no way anyone can justify a cap hit of over 6 million for a over 35 year old for several seasons after that.

 

[Ail]

Big Richards fan, but he just hasn't looked much like the Richards from TB and Dallas thus far, mostly this season.

I still think he can take it up a notch even from last season. He showed that in the playoffs. If he ends up just being a playoff beast for NYR, that's okay, but he can't coast through the regular season like he is currently. The guy has way too much talent.

A crap PP is only part of the problem, his 5 on 5 has really lacked. If he was playing well and not scoring as much because the PP was sucking, that'd be one thing, but he has looked so lethargic overall.

Hope he finds his form soon, I don't want to see him traded or bought out.

 

[Inferno]

Still thought they should have traded gaborik to La for schenn, Simmonds, and the 2nd round pick.
Then no need to sign Richards. Have tons of cap space to resign younger players.

They wouldn't have the top 1st line center, but they don't have that with Richards now either.

And simmonds with his 25+ goals and physical style would fit better here than gaborik does.

yeah..i mean who needs a 40 goal scorer when we can have toughness!


oh...what? we struggle at scoring goals? and getting rid of 2 guys who score at near PPG paces would be the most....ridiculous thing anyone could suggest?

oh.

nevermind then.

 

[slipknottin]

yeah..i mean who needs a 40 goal scorer when we can have toughness!


oh...what? we struggle at scoring goals? and getting rid of 2 guys who score at near PPG paces would be the most....ridiculous thing anyone could suggest?

oh.

nevermind then.

The team still struggles to score goals with gaborik and Richards. Because half the games they don't show up.

Replace a 40 goal scorer with a 30 goal scorer who fits the system better and saves 6 mil a year on the cap? Not bad

Replace Richards projected 8 goal season with a 20 year old future star center and save another 7 million? I'll take that too


And I didn't say anything about toughness. I'm talking about system fit.