One of my favorite players of all time (as if you couldn't tell from the username) -- not only because he was a great goalie, but because of who he was as a person. I had the privilege of meeting him a few times. Beyond the amazing talent, he was just a great guy. One of the nicest and classiest people (not just player) I've ever met; was probably the hardest working player I've seen; and no slouch intellectually either -- probably one of the brighter guys to play in the NHL (graduated from Yale after his playing career).
Two stories to demonstrate the above (both from training camps):
- As a kid, I was lucky enough to go to some of NYR's training camps throughout the years. We accidentally arrived a day early one year and went up to the facility only to find it empty and locked up for the most part. Ended up running into a guard(?) who told us we were a day early; but was nice enough to mention that the players were arriving that day and told us what hotel they were staying in (pretty amazing he gave us that information -- I'm sure that would never happen now). Thrilled, we went to the hotel and staked out the lobby waiting for players to arrive. Richter was one of the first to arrive in a sort of players' mini-bus. He was grabbing his luggage, hockey bag, pads, and one by one throwing them over his shoulder. I was younger, excited out of my mind, and totally oblivious to the fact that he had just finished positioning somewhere around 3 or 4 fairly large bags and his goalie pads on his shoulders to head inside. Ran up to him beaming, and asked him to autograph a card or two that I had with me. Instead of showing any sort of frustration or annoyance at the situation, he kind of chuckled, sighed slightly (as if to say/think "Really? I gotta take all these bags off now?"), and started to take each bag off of his shoulders one by one. He signed his autograph, took a photo, and took the time to chat for longer than I would have ever expected a player would with a younger kid. Not to mention a player who was undoubtedly wanting to check in and prepare for the day instead of be harassed by a kid.
- He was a workhorse. At camp they would do hours of suicides, drills, and scrimmages on the ice. And before and after the ice-time, players would do weight training and additional cardio - whether on treadmills or a stationary bike. There was one part of the facility where they had bikes set up in front of windows and roped off a section just outside the windows for fans to watch the players do their workout. Every single day, Richter was the first one in there before practice and the absolute last one out after -- and it wasn't just by a couple minutes. The guy would stay on the stationary bike for over an hour after every other player had left. And then to top it all off; after a grueling day of camp, he would come out and sign some autographs and chat at a point in an exhausting day when not a single other player wanted anything to do with the fans.
: 
