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Brad Richards Part II

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These were terrible teams too. I'm not sold at ALL. He still looked horrendous in several games even with Gabs gone. He's playing bad teams with bad D and undisciplined coverage that are letting him expose them and he's benefitted from some nice flukes like his hat trick securing goal. ( he made a great play going to the net and getting the one from between millers legs). My money is on teams playing him very tight in the PO's and him dissappearing/sucking again. My hope is that he has turned the corner VERY late in an atypical half season after his worst season as a pro
 
I hope these past few games have allowed him to relax a bit. He needs to be a big part of this teams offense. Having (3) centers who can distribute the puck and create offense will be HUGE come playoff time.
 
I think he's certainly had some "gifts" in terms of scoring, but it's nice to see him picking up his play. He's skating a bit better and is making better passes. He was forcing it before with all of those drop passes to nobody. Definitely looks like a guy who got the weight of the world off his back.

I just hope this isn't a trend. Frustrating to have him suck it up all year and then get your hopes up that he's figured it out when he makes a late push.
 
starting to think Ricahrds is going to be just fine. He was streaky last yr and well has been streaky this yr but his numbers are starting to look descent again

Just at the right time? heres hoping
 
Question - why arent people ready to buy into the fact that Richards is improving because of the lack of competition?

He was looking like **** against these same teams no more than a few weeks ago.

He'll need to play great if you want the Rangers to go anywhere, so, might as well root for him.
 
Bleed Ranger Blue said:
Question - why arent people ready to buy into the fact that Richards is improving because of the lack of competition?

He was looking like **** against these same teams no more than a few weeks ago.

He'll need to play great if you want the Rangers to go anywhere, so, might as well root for him.
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Pretty much where I am at.

I honestly felt that it was more lack of confidence than lack of skills, but hey, who knows.

After this season and after next season does not matter to me right now. I want this team to make the playoffs and make some noise, which I think they can. Richards will go a long way to determining how far this team goes.
 
Bleed Ranger Blue said:
Question - why arent people ready to buy into the fact that Richards is improving because of the lack of competition?

He was looking like **** against these same teams no more than a few weeks ago.

He'll need to play great if you want the Rangers to go anywhere, so, might as well root for him.
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Don't quite follow. Lack of competition internally amongst our roster or externally due to lack of quality in the teams we've faced? Or are you simply referring to his own compete level?
 
Trxjw said:
Don't quite follow. Lack of competition internally amongst our roster or externally due to lack of quality in the teams we've faced? Or are you simply referring to his own compete level?
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My point is that Richards has sucked against teams like the Panthers, Devils, and Buffalo all season.

Now that hes playing well against them, the reason is because those teams stink.

Hes playing much better - I dont think theres any doubt to that. And thank goodness, because he needs to be if this team is to go anywhere.
 
Was...

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Now he is...

images


Beaver is all good, guys. He was our most clutch player last year in the postseason and I have a feeling he'll step it up again. The man is making plays out there.
 
In the past 3 games, Richie has 4 goals and 3 assists, but what's really notable is his ice time. up until the first of those 3 games, he was averaging somewhere around 17 to 18 minutes a game, and doing nothing. 17:50 against Philly, 16:47 against NYI.

But then there was a change. And he started getting a little less ice time. And he started looking MUCH better. In the past 3 games, he's always played between 14:14 and 14:26.

Maybe Richards really was having fitness problems, or maybe Brass coming in and taking some pressure off was a huge help, but I don't think Richards's play and his sudden change in TOI is a coincidence.
 
Bleed Ranger Blue said:
My point is that Richards has sucked against teams like the Panthers, Devils, and Buffalo all season.

Now that hes playing well against them, the reason is because those teams stink.

Hes playing much better - I dont think theres any doubt to that. And thank goodness, because he needs to be if this team is to go anywhere.
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This is a great point.

I don't think it's quality of opponent that has much to do with this. I look at the two assists he put up yesterday and saw things we haven't seen much of from him all year.

Guys who are good playmakers usually combine three components. Vision. Accurate pass placement. Appropriate pass velocity. The latter 2 components are both things we haven't see a ton of this year from Richards. He seemed to be either putting pucks in guys skates, flubbing passes or passing too hard so the puck went in front of his target. He displayed both positive attributes on the Pyatt and Callahan goals last night. This, to me, is a sign that his game is coming together a little bit. It would never matter who the opponent is, that's the kind of sign you need to look for.
 
Callagraves said:
In the past 3 games, Richie has 4 goals and 3 assists, but what's really notable is his ice time. up until the first of those 3 games, he was averaging somewhere around 17 to 18 minutes a game, and doing nothing. 17:50 against Philly, 16:47 against NYI.

But then there was a change. And he started getting a little less ice time. And he started looking MUCH better. In the past 3 games, he's always played between 14:14 and 14:26.

Maybe Richards really was having fitness problems, or maybe Brass coming in and taking some pressure off was a huge help, but I don't think Richards's play and his sudden change in TOI is a coincidence.
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Could be fitness. Could also be age. Plus, he's not seeing the other team's best D every shift anymore.
 
Just checked NHL.com. Richards was named one of the three stars of the week.

Edit: Nevermind, somebody already posted it. Anyways, congrats and here's to him keeping it up and hopefully against some tougher opponents.
 
Bleed Ranger Blue said:
My point is that Richards has sucked against teams like the Panthers, Devils, and Buffalo all season.

Now that hes playing well against them, the reason is because those teams stink.

Hes playing much better - I dont think theres any doubt to that. And thank goodness, because he needs to be if this team is to go anywhere.
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Gotcha.

I think the difference between how he's looked over the last 3 games when compared to the rest of the year is night and day. He looks quicker, more deliberate, and he's making the kind of plays that have earned him his reputation of a premier playmaker.

My main concern is that this is the same kind of thing we saw last year. He can't make a habit of being awful for 85% of the regular season and then "figuring it out" leading up to the playoffs.
 
This is Brad Richards's worst year in the league, and he's still on pace for about 60 points, and he's starting to heat up.

As much **** as he's getting, thats, kinda cool.
 
SingnBluesOnBroadway said:
The coolness wanes when your really there are 7 years left on his deal.
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OT, but it blows my mind that we sign him to that contract recently and by the time it expires, DiPietro STILL has one year to go on his.

This is of course assuming they both play out their contracts fully which I doubt happens.
 
Bleed Ranger Blue said:
Question - why arent people ready to buy into the fact that Richards is improving because of the lack of competition?

He was looking like **** against these same teams no more than a few weeks ago.

He'll need to play great if you want the Rangers to go anywhere, so, might as well root for him.
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Skepticism that Richards has turned things around does not equal rooting against him. It's a defense mechanism b/c I think he's going to go back to being crap and I don't want to be disappointed I would rather be pleasantly surprised.

Cursing at a player during a bad game does not equal rooting against them. It is an expression of frustration that normal human beings do and understand.

Just clearing that up b/c I don't know where that rooting for comment came from unless you think people are rooting against him which is beyond moronic for them to do if they are doing it. I would root against Dogkiller Vick not some buck tooth beaver.
 
Yeah, at this point it seem an inevitability that he'll be bought out at the end of next season.

Guys were on top of the idea of a Redden minors burial long before anyone in the NHL thought it was likely.

Between now and then,we still have to determine if Brassard is a long term solution at #2 center, or a better version of Christensen.
 
Baby Punisher said:
He may have 7 years left on that deal. but the reality is that he will be gone long before that contract expires with a buyout.
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You would hope so. Knowing Slats and the moves this organization makes I still can't say with certainty they will do the right thing, it's scary.
 
Callagraves said:
In the past 3 games, Richie has 4 goals and 3 assists, but what's really notable is his ice time. up until the first of those 3 games, he was averaging somewhere around 17 to 18 minutes a game, and doing nothing. 17:50 against Philly, 16:47 against NYI.

But then there was a change. And he started getting a little less ice time. And he started looking MUCH better. In the past 3 games, he's always played between 14:14 and 14:26.

Maybe Richards really was having fitness problems, or maybe Brass coming in and taking some pressure off was a huge help, but I don't think Richards's play and his sudden change in TOI is a coincidence.
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I think it's worth noting that he hasn't been the team's 1C since around mid/late March. The emergence of Stepan as the 1C and Brass coming in probably takes a ton of pressure off of him and allows him to gain some confidence playing against weaker competition as the 3C. If he is in fact that fragile mentally right now though it doesn't give me high hope he'll turn it around for the playoffs.
 
Nine points in his last five games; at least one point in each of those games.

He's starting to come on offensively, just in time for the playoffs. Great to see.
 
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