Mike Richards (Warning in OP)

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think Richards' body starting to quit on him is a good point. Look at his number of hits over the years:

2013-14: 61 hits in 71 games
2012-13: 58 hits in 48 games
2011-12: 115 hits in 74 games
2010-11: 104 hits in 81 games
2009-10: 145 hits in 82 games
2008-09: 147 hits in 79 games
2007-08: 110 hits in 73 games

His hitting is drastically down, and that can be attributed to what Herby alluded to.

 

[Herby]

I think Richards' body starting to quit on him is a good point. Look at his number of hits over the years:

2013-14: 61 hits in 71 games
2012-13: 58 hits in 48 games
2011-12: 115 hits in 74 games
2010-11: 104 hits in 81 games
2009-10: 145 hits in 82 games
2008-09: 147 hits in 79 games
2007-08: 110 hits in 73 games

His hitting is drastically down, and that can be attributed to what Herby alluded to.

Well I have mentioned this before so I know exactly what the reply is going to be...

"His body isn't breaking down, he is just trying to play smarter and not take and give as much physical abuse"

Which is fine, but the problem is it's not only the physical play that has fallen off a cliff, it's also the offense, defense and speed. If MR were still good defensively and still scored 20-25 goals a season while not being overly physical everyone would be cool with that, but when you look at the big picture, the lack of physical play just goes hand in hand with everything else to point to a player on the severe decline, and still signed for 6 more seasons after this one. And that is why MR is brought up so much on this site and other Kings sites, because of the length and dollar amount of his contract, it's a potentially HUGE problem for the Kings.

 

[Herby]

I agree.

The popular myth appears to be about Richards' production but I think as we've explored it that's not a problem at all unless you're talking about goal scoring specifically--we could use more of that from everyone, but Richards' actual output is an average 2C.

And how many other 2C's around the league spend most of the season with a former league goal scoring champion who lead the conference in goals the season before and spend almost the entire season on the #1 PP unit?

Richards numbers are extremely underwhelming considering his situation, very little heavy defensive responsibility, tons of PP time and an elite goal scorer on his wing even strength.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Well I have mentioned this before so I know exactly what the reply is going to be...

"His body isn't breaking down, he is just trying to play smarter and not take and give as much physical abuse"

Which is fine, but the problem is it's not only the physical play that has fallen off a cliff, it's also the offense, defense and speed. If MR were still good defensively and still scored 20-25 goals a season while not being overly physical everyone would be cool with that, but when you look at the big picture, the lack of physical play just goes hand in hand with everything else to point to a player on the severe decline, and still signed for 6 more seasons after this one. And that is why MR is brought up so much on this site and other Kings sites, because of the length and dollar amount of his contract, it's a potentially HUGE problem for the Kings.

I'm more worried about the defense and speed. The offense is being overstated because of our woes. He scored 32 in 48 last season and still may actually have his highest point total as a King this year (4 away). obviously not his 60-80 points flyer years, but he's not our 1C, either. 12 pts in 15 games in the playoffs last year, too.

Not saying you're wrong, obviously--I just don't want the popular narrative to become that his offense has totally dried up when there are bigger problems with his game in my opinion, but I'm not ready to throw dirt on his grave yet, I think it's all fixable.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

And how many other 2C's around the league spend most of the season with a former league goal scoring champion who lead the conference in goals the season before and spend almost the entire season on the #1 PP unit?

Richards numbers are extremely underwhelming considering his situation, very little heavy defensive responsibility, tons of PP time and an elite goal scorer on his wing even strength.

I dunno, let's look. WIll update this post with some middle-of-the-pack 2Cs. A big question is has he really been on the #1 PP all year? I don't recall him spending significant time there but I guess it could be because he was ineffective

Edit: I think Kesler is a fair comparable. Same number of points (40), but 8 PP goals to Richards' 3, and 18 goals to Richards' 10.

I'd choose one of the Avs as a more powerful offensive team, but not sure how they're slotting right now. MacKinnon, Duchene, O'Reilly, Stastny all outpacing him by varying degrees.

Chicago, do you want me to really look at Handzus?

Blues, depending on whether you're looking at Roy or Berglund, they're both behind Richie, even with a higher scoring team. But your point about utilization plays true here.

For the Wild, Koivu is at 43, Granlund is at 39, both in the ballpark. Both with fewer games, however.

Yotes, Vermette is probably a very good comparable, and Ribeiro maybe too, both with a few points more than Richards. But Vermette has freaking 23 goals, which surprised me.

Anyway, if anything, maybe we expect more goals from Richards, but his production isn't totally dumped.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Both years he's been with us his production has jumped noticeably in the postseason. I look for this trend more than anything else to continue.

Also, this is the first regular season in 8 or 9 that he is scoring below a 20 goal pace, and its WELL below. His shooting percentage is a career worst as well, he has about half the number of goals we'd expect from a sandard year of 11-12%. For now I'd call the lack of goal scoring an anomaly. I want one more full year after this to pass judgement.

The laziness/disconnectedness is my main concern, but I get the rationale behind saving himself for the important games, and also perhaps losing his edge in such a mode. Like I said, one more year to make certain.

Innocent until proven guilty.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Richards ranks fourth on the Kings in average power play ice time and was third before Gaborik was brought in, averaging 2:58 of PP time. But seriously, he's not the reason the PP sucked, even Kopitar, Doughty and Carter have been ineffective with the man advantage.

In terms of even strength ice time, Richards is 7th among Kings forwards, averaging over 12 minutes of even strength play, though his total ice time is fourth overall among forwards on the Kings.

He's also fourth among Kings forwards in PK ice time and is tied with Dwight King for most short handed points on the Kings with 2. He's also 3rd in powerplay points with 11, behind Kopitar and Carter.

 

[Alternate Jersey]

Richards ranks fourth on the Kings in average power play ice time and was third before Gaborik was brought in, averaging 2:58 of PP time. But seriously, he's not the reason the PP sucked, even Kopitar, Doughty and Carter have been ineffective with the man advantage.

In terms of even strength ice time, Richards is 7th among Kings forwards, averaging over 12 minutes of even strength play, though his total ice time is fourth overall among forwards on the Kings.

He's also fourth among Kings forwards in PK ice time and is tied with Dwight King for most short handed points on the Kings with 2. He's also 3rd in powerplay points with 11, behind Kopitar and Carter.

i think these points, taken together, are pretty significant. i certainly agree that he's not setting the world on fire offensively, but it's also not like our PP has been particularly dangerous 100% of the time in general, either. and if he's third in PP points, then that means he is contributing quite a bit to that unit, ineffective as it may have been for large parts of the season.

 

[Albi]

Since we are comparing MR with Smoke, what about their impact in the playoff? Richards is a difference maker in the postseason, I'm also disappointed by his numbers this year, but for a final judgement I'll wait before watching him in the playoff, when he usually turns the switch.

 

[damacles1156]

It's a risk/reward thing, and at this point having a sub par defensive forward who has been struggling for months offensively on the point just isn't worth it. That is why they seem to be sticking with Slava.

If MR were playing better or the Kings didn't have Gabby maybe you do it to create more offense, but at this point the risk just isn't worth it, that PP should be plenty good enough to score with Kopi-Carter-Gaborik-Voynov and Doughty.

Ughhh Slava, No goals in his last 52 games now.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Ughhh Slava, No goals in his last 52 games now.

Somehow this guy is getting a pass.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

So Richards and brown are similar, so it's safe to say, the part that made Richards and brown good was their intensity and hitting game. The more they hit the more plays they made, two things that's deteriorated from both of their games, but mostly from Richards. So I think hitting less, and speculating his body is quitting on him is possible.

 

[damacles1156]

Somehow this guy is getting a pass.

Not from me, Slava has no excuse for his piss poor season. Slava is 24 and suppose to be entering his prime production years.

He is going to start it off, with a career worse year on both sides of the puck.

 

[King RAZZ]

Somehow this guy is getting a pass.

I've been making cracks all season that Slava's spending more on sticks than his salary this season... I hope next season's batch don't have termites AND Dutch elm disease...

 

[Ron*]

Ughhh Slava, No goals in his last 52 games now.

That is insane. He had quite a run in last year's playoffs. I thought he was going to take off this year offensively, but obviously it hasn't happened.

He is just having a brutal year, with a gem of a game thrown in here and there.

 

[The Butcher]

Mike Richards will rise again this spring just like he always does. The guy still has credits with me and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Ron*]

Mike Richards will rise again this spring just like he always does. The guy still has credits with me and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Like to see him get 4 goals tonight with this ****ing stupid Philly crowd booing him.

**** Philly fan.

 

[kingsfan28]

Drew Doughty is a terrible PP player....Just awful. He is a Big reason the Kings PP has been just awful the last two years.

Doughty needs to speed up what he does and learn a Wrist Shot.

Watching Doughty on team Canada work the pp and Doughty working the pp on the Kings is very different. He wasn't hesitant or had that big back swing, and he used a simple wrist shot. Here, he doesn't do any of that. He looks for the perfect seem to pass and tries to shoot the puck through guys after they get into lanes. That wrist shot Marty used the other game against FLA is what we all wish he'd use.

 

[kingsfan]

I'm re-opening this discussion due to PMs and because it's become apparent that Richie is a common theme across all threads and even visitors to our forum want to chime in so we may as well re-localize it to keep everything else on topic.

That being said, ways to get this thread locked: off-the-ice hearsay/libel, personal attacks, drive-bys with no evidence (statistical or eye test), or random trolling/flaming even by visitors. There will be no warnings, only infractions.

All off-thread-topic Richards talk will be moved here.

Go ahead and get it all out of your system, but be respectful.

I think it's sad a mod has to restart a thread with the above post, and not because of the mod but rather whoever got it closed in the first place. Really, what is there to complain about with Mike Richards other than he doesn't put up as many points/goals as we'd like for his cap hit. Guy plays big in big games and wins at every level. So he's a 45 point guy not a 75 point guy. If there's anyone on the roster we have to overpay, I'm cool with it being Cannon.

 

[Herby]

Really, what is there to complain about with Mike Richards other than he doesn't put up as many points/goals as we'd like for his cap hit.

Are you just going to choose to ignore the defensive and physical stats that have been posted in this thread?

You really think it's only about goals and points? The guy us currently the Kings 4th line center and is going to make almost 6 million for the next 6 years after this one, and you are wondering why people are discussing him?

 

[kingsfan]

Are you just going to choose to ignore the defensive and physical stats that have been posted in this thread?

You really think it's only about goals and points? The guy us currently the Kings 4th line center and is going to make almost 6 million for the next 6 years after this one, and you are wondering why people are discussing him?

You quoted me as saying he's overpaid for what he gives. I said that's his one flaw, so not sure what the point was of stating "The guy us currently the Kings 4th line center and is going to make almost 6 million for the next 6 years after this one."

I never said the guy was a defensive wizard, I said he wins everywhere and that he lifts himself for the playoffs.

Want a defensively solid centre? Go enjoy Trevor Lewis. You want a guy that has posted 27 points in the past two playoff runs and plays his best games when they matter, you enjoy Mike Richards.

 

[KBA4life]

You quoted me as saying he's overpaid for what he gives. I said that's his one flaw, so not sure what the point was of stating "The guy us currently the Kings 4th line center and is going to make almost 6 million for the next 6 years after this one."

I never said the guy was a defensive wizard, I said he wins everywhere and that he lifts himself for the playoffs.

Want a defensively solid centre? Go enjoy Trevor Lewis. You want a guy that has posted 27 points in the past two playoff runs and plays his best games when they matter, you enjoy Mike Richards.

The point is that MR has been so crap this year, he might not be able to pull the obligatory "big game" player out of his ass again. If he has to save himself for big games only, then he needs to cut the trips to cold stone and get his ass in better shape

 

[Muzzinga]

Somehow this guy is getting a pass.

Slava has an anchor on his line. Tough for him to produce points when his dman cant move the puck out of the dzone

Richards is still fine at the moment, but lets avoid a Gomez situation and trade him in the off season for a young defensive LHD dman

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Are you just going to choose to ignore the defensive and physical stats that have been posted in this thread?

You really think it's only about goals and points? The guy us currently the Kings 4th line center and is going to make almost 6 million for the next 6 years after this one, and you are wondering why people are discussing him?

You're going to suggest that's a standard 4th line? Or that it will remain this way indefinitely? If you're so bothered by the idea of a guy making big money while being pencilled in anywhere other than the tip top of the roster think about it this way: at the moment we have 2 rookies on line 2 making chicken scratch so we have an underpaid 2nd line and an overpaid 4th line. If you need to put it in such black and white terminology.

Right now think of it as "the lines attached to each C." Kopi, Carter, Stoll, Richie. Depth, spread around. Richards as a "4th line C" still hit 16 minutes with Special teams mixed in, and played a very good game.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

I don't know if it's true doughty is bad on PP. On team Canada he was quick and effective. Maybe it's not his style of PP?