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Brad Richards

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You expect some sort of decline when a player reaches their early to mid thirties in the "new nhl". It's become a league that favors youth and energy, and while some players like Marty St. Louis and Ray Whitney can still light it up, they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Richards is a player who relies on non-physical aspects of his game to gain an advantage. More specifically, his poise and hockey IQ are superior when compared to the average player. Maybe it's just blind optimism, but I don't think a player with those attributes goes from being a 70-80 point producer to a 40-50 over the course of a season and a half. While it may be possible that aging may restrict his abilities, I find it hard to believe it brings his production down 30-40 points in such a short amount of time.

Only time will tell, but I don't think they should amnesty him until the end of next season. I think he can still be a solid60-70 point guy.
 
The Perfect Paradox said:
You expect some sort of decline when a player reaches their early to mid thirties in the "new nhl". It's become a league that favors youth and energy, and while some players like Marty St. Louis and Ray Whitney can still light it up, they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Richards is a player who relies on non-physical aspects of his game to gain an advantage. More specifically, his poise and hockey IQ are superior when compared to the average player. Maybe it's just blind optimism, but I don't think a player with those attributes goes from being a 70-80 point producer to a 40-50 over the course of a season and a half. While it may be possible that aging may restrict his abilities, I find it hard to believe it brings his production down 30-40 points in such a short amount of time.

Only time will tell, but I don't think they should amnesty him until the end of next season. I think he can still be a solid60-70 point guy.
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You think they can find say a 50-60 point player with a more reasonable cap hit then . The guy is making Crosby money to be a 2-3 tweener.
 
When a player starts saying the things publicly that Richards has, things have gone from very bad to terrible. Get your $#!% together Brad. Pathetic.
 
I really want Brad to get his stuff together and start playing like he did in Dallas. He was so good then. As frustrating as he's been this year, I'm still rooting for him.
 
Pizza said:
I'll take that as a no. The phrase "shadow of his former self" applies to yet another New York Rangers free agent signing. No surprise.

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves. The next time someone says playing NHL hockey in New York is no big deal, I'm gonna dust em like a curio cabinet. MSG turns erstwhile NHL stars into scrubs.

Brad Richards needs to shut the @#$% up, dig out those balls he left in his closet, put them on and play some hockey. Guy sounds like a total *****.
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Gaborik has been bad so far this year, yes. But over the course of his contract here, he's been great.

It's not a New York thing IMO. Richards is just not playing well.
 
I don't think it's a curse that most of our FA signings are bad. I think that Sather grossly overpays them and they continue to play at their level but we expect them to match their contract.
 
Dorado said:
You think they can find say a 50-60 point player with a more reasonable cap hit then . The guy is making Crosby money to be a 2-3 tweener.
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If such a center hits the market then sure. Top tier centers are arguably the hardest pieces to acquire in this day and age, so it's hard to say that one will hit the market. That's why I think they should hold onto him for next season and then use the amnesty buy out on his contract if they feel it is necessary.

If his contract prevents us form signing our RFAs this summer though, I would recommend dumping his ass immediately. :laugh:
 
Bob Richards said:
I don't think it's a curse that most of our FA signings are bad. I think that Sather grossly overpays them and they continue to play at their level but we expect them to match their contract.
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You take your logic, and your reason, and get the hell out.


It has no place in the Bard Richards thread.
 
Bob Richards said:
I don't think it's a curse that most of our FA signings are bad. I think that Sather grossly overpays them and they continue to play at their level but we expect them to match their contract.
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I think for most signings this is the case. Looking at Richards' point totals before joining the Rangers, his play has declined rather than just staying the same.
 
For all the hate they get, Drury and Gomez pretty much put up their typical numbers.

Redden was indeed horrible but this thread isn't about him. :)
 
dethomas07 said:
very true.. richards has fallen off the map just like dru did.. but i honestly didnt think gomez was that bad here.. i think the players around him sucked or were very young (callahan, dubinsky, korp) He played well with jagr.. people expected him to score goals here, he was never a goal scorer.. just an amazing skater and passer with great hockey sense and vision.

he played great with jagr when he was here, i think if we some how managed to keep jagr (which we shouldve) or get gabs and they both played together that wouldve been an amazin combo.. so much speed.. all gabs had to do was find the open space and gomez wouldve dished it to him.

haha however hard to dwell on that when we got MCD hahaha mtl suckers!!
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Jagr didn't play well at all with Drury. Nor did he play well with Gomez. That is why he was being centered by Dubinsky. Let's not try to make Gomez into something he wasn't here.
 
Solution to avoiding problems with big name free agents: develop your own stars. This team doesn't do that. The Rangers specialize in developing complimentary players and role players, which is terrific. But when that's all you do, you end up painting yourself into a corner where you have no choice but to fill those big holes at the top VIA trade and free agency.

Show me the last Stanley Cup winner that didn't have at least one, if not two, legit first line forwards that had been developed by the team.
 
Gomez produced the exact same here as any year of his career.

There was no decline, his numbers just werent worth the increase in pay.

Thats Gomez in a nutshell.
 
I still really like Drury. It's just that his knees were degenerating before our very eyes and taking up 7 million dollars.
 
NYR Sting said:
Solution to avoiding problems with big name free agents: develop your own stars. This team doesn't do that. The Rangers specialize in developing complimentary players and role players, which is terrific. But when that's all you do, you end up painting yourself into a corner where you have no choice but to fill those big holes at the top VIA trade and free agency.

Show me the last Stanley Cup winner that didn't have at least one, if not two, legit first line forwards that had been developed by the team.
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Pretty much.

Our top three offensive stars are all products of other teams.

Lundqvist was not planned, but panned out.

Cherepanov (RIP) was our biggest chance at a star IMO.
 
NYR Sting said:
Solution to avoiding problems with big name free agents: develop your own stars. This team doesn't do that. The Rangers specialize in developing complimentary players and role players, which is terrific. But when that's all you do, you end up painting yourself into a corner where you have no choice but to fill those big holes at the top VIA trade and free agency.

Show me the last Stanley Cup winner that didn't have at least one, if not two, legit first line forwards that had been developed by the team.
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This has been exacerbated by the Rangers finishing, at worst, in the middle of the pack. We never really tanked.
 
The New York Rangers have a very bad history with F/A signings. That's a fact. But I'm sure there be those that disagree.

Gabby has been decent, but only about up to what his par is. Now he's another lost soul with a delicate frame of mind that can't seem to get a noticeable game together on anywhere near a consistent basis.

Sather has spent about what the market will bear for these players, but his track record here is pure suckdom.

....and it is very much a New York thing. Other wise good to great players have come here one after another.....and sucked. Richards is just the latest. I was willing to cut the guy a bit of slack but after today....forget it.
 
NYR Sting said:
Solution to avoiding problems with big name free agents: develop your own stars. This team doesn't do that. The Rangers specialize in developing complimentary players and role players, which is terrific. But when that's all you do, you end up painting yourself into a corner where you have no choice but to fill those big holes at the top VIA trade and free agency.

Show me the last Stanley Cup winner that didn't have at least one, if not two, legit first line forwards that had been developed by the team.
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Spot on Sting.
 
Pizza said:
The New York Rangers have a very bad history with F/A signings. That's a fact. But I'm sure there be those that disagree.

Gabby has been decent, but only about up to what his par is. Now he's another lost soul with a delicate frame of mind that can't seem to get a noticeable game together on anywhere near a consistent basis.

Sather has spent about what the market will bear for these players, but his track record here is pure suckdom.

....and it is very much a New York thing. Other wise good to great players have come here one after another.....and sucked. Richards is just the latest. I was willing to cut the guy a bit of slack but after today....forget it.
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What did he say today? I didn't know it could get worse than I'm lost and confused. What a bum.
 
Bob Richards said:
I don't think it's a curse that most of our FA signings are bad. I think that Sather grossly overpays them and they continue to play at their level but we expect them to match their contract.
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Very good point. Drury and Gomez put up the same numbers they had put up years prior. But because of the superstar money they were being paid, most fans expected superstar numbers. Gomez actually wasn't bad for us. Drury was good the first 2 years, scored timely goals, etc.

Redden was pretty horrendous, though. But Richards is a career, what, 75 point player on average? If he isn't matching that, with wingers like Gaborik and now Nash, he isn't cutting it. If the power play was better, he'd have more points obviously. But the PP works through BR, so if anything, his play is a big part of why the power play sucks.

It honestly looks like his physical condition was not up to par early in the season, so he took a lot of slack for his play and lackluster skating. But now, he looks so mentally out of it. Like this season is already over for him. So even if his physical game is now up to or close to what it needs to be, his mentality just isn't allowing him to step up his game. He isn't using what made him a great player, his hockey IQ.
 
From that Brooks article:

Brian Boyle, the third-line pivot, not only has scored only one goal (with one assist) on the year, he has been on the ice for three Rangers goals scored all season.
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:cry:
 
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