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Mike Richards next Goal of the Year Contest

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If people are going to pick and choose what games they are going to look at and say he's had a terrible season then I'm going to do the same. In the first 33 games he had 26 points and was a +8. At that point he was tied with Kopitar as leader in scoring. The only issue is goals, and like I said, who is going to set him up? Why would he shoot when Toffoli is open and has a much better shot?

So that means in almost 3/4 of the season, he has been great and yet people are saying he's having a bad season? Plus the past two games, he's been playing like he was a month ago.

And more penalty minutes? Seriously? Cause that's what we need since you know we are already tops in the league in Penalty minutes. But besides that, I'd rather he be out there than out with another concussion because he got in a bad fight or he delivered a hit and someone decided to return the favor.
 
Herby said:
A few quiet games? A few quiet games? You really think this poor (or excuse me quiet) play is a few games?

Again, it's a lot more than lack of offense, it's poor defensive play and a lack of physical play. No one was expecting him to be a 30 goal scorer, but on pace for single digits, while being on the ice for a ton of goals against and providing little physical play while making close to $8 million? I think it's more than fair to be critical.

I guess we will find out in the playoffs if he indeed is just going to flip a switch, but as of right now he is playing the worst hockey of his career and that is why his icetime is down a lot lately. Stoll has simply outplayed him in all facets of the game and that is why Stoll is the 2nd line center right now.
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Yes, you are on your semi annual Richards bash again. But it's cool, man. I actually like reading your stuff even though I often think you are being overly critical. And to hear you say "Stool" is outplaying anyone is pretty awesome.

The Mike Richards game is one that you have to pick and choose what moments/games you can really unleash the beast. If he played Mike Richards hockey for 82-100 games a year he would have a pretty short career.

Besides, I LIKE when certain players slump a little this time of year. I think it helps to put them in check, keeps them working hard, keeps them honest. When things are coming too easy (like they were a few weeks ago) is when I worry the most.
 
HolyShot said:
Give him a power forward to play alongside.
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Give him a good, big LW and he - and Toffoli - starts to produce again.

I just watched Kings-Wild game and it's really pisses me off, that we trade Bernier to Toronto. Niederreiter is just that kind of player what we need. Big, hard working, left shooting young winger, who can score and still plays reliable two-way game. Lombardi just screwed up that trade - and badly.
 
kingsfan said:
We get it, you don't like the guy. But let's look at your facts from the other side shall we?

Yes, goals production downright brutal, but why slap out the points as well? You mention two assists in 12 games, but ignore the 27 points in 33 games before that. If he had maintained that pace all season, he'd have finished with 67 points. Pretty good for a 2nd line centre. Lately he's been off offenseively, but 2/3rds of the year he's been actually quite productive.

Last game Sutter played Richards for 18 seconds on the PK. And? He's averaged 1:47 a game on the PK the entire seasson. He must be doing something right since that's 4th amongst all Kings forwards and the Kings PK is top 10 in the league.

So PIM's = physicality? A low PIM total doesn't mean a lack of physical play. Robyn Regehr has just seven more penalty minutes all season than Richards, and he plays more minutes a game. Is Regehr not physical now either? You can play your game without taking PIM's.

I'm not going to say he's been terrific, but he's better than you imply. Not that that's shocking though, you always rag on this guy.
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First off, I don't hate the guy, not a huge fan but hate is a strong word reserved for the likes of Ryan Smyth. I do think he is without question the most overrated player the Kings have had since I have been a fan, have said that numerous times. I just like the counter balance the people who think he walked on water into the lockerroom and made the Kings a champion. The treatment of him vs. Kopitar by Kings fans is comical. Kopi has never played anywhere close to this awful in his career and is always called out for much much less.

As for the rest.

I hated using the PIM's stat, I truly did, but he has not been physical this season, nowhere near where he was in the prime years of his career, I don't see how anyone who watches Kings games could think otherwise, and while I hated using that stat it does reflect the change in his game. Do you really see the same physical player of his younger years.

Offense, well 12 games is a quarter of the season, so when a guy no-shows for a quarter of a season it's a factor. Still wondering though, on the rest of the season. Is the guy is a product of Carter? It's pretty clear at this point, to me atleast, that he is. He can put up assists when passing to Carter and doesn't do much offensively away from Carter. Like K17 said, no excuse that Richards playing 3rd line can't produce points with Tyler Toffoli against second and third options defensively. When you pay someone close to $8 in actual dollars and close to $6 in cap, they shouldn't need Jeff Carter training wheels to ride the bike.

On the defense, well you acknowledged the PK part, which I will just say that his numbers will go down with Kopitar and Stoll playing better on the PK. But what about the other part, if a guy is such a well rounded player who does things that don't show up on the stat sheet how is he on the ice for so many goals against (no matter who his linemates are)? How does he make so many questionable defensive plays/reads? How come Jeff Carter's goals-against go down so drastically when he is away from Richards. (whether he is with Kopi or centering his own line). What grade would you give Mike Richards as a defensive player?
 
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The Butcher said:
Yes, you are on your semi annual Richards bash again. But it's cool, man. I actually like reading your stuff even though I often think you are being overly critical. And to hear you say "Stool" is outplaying anyone is pretty awesome.
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Well Stoll seems to have finally found a couple of forwards he can work with. That being said, if Jarret Stoll is still vastly outplaying Mike Richards in April like he is right now, the Kings won't be playing in May or later. But you have to give props to Stoll for playing much better the past couple of weeks.
 
I will play.
Rick is in a funk but he will break out. Hope he does so tonight.
Mike Richards Goal scored.
SAT JAN 11, 2014 RED WINGS, 2ND period. ES. and
MON JAN 27, 2014 SHARKS, 3rd period. ES.
 
Even when Richards isn't scoring he is still a very very valuable player to the team. I don't mind poking fun at ANY player when they are having trouble at one aspect of their game so long as it isn't the most critical piece (goalie not making stops etc).

I think you can predict when MR will score his next goal without calling for his head. It's just a game so why make it a bigger deal then that?
 
Herby said:
I love replies like this.

What else is he currently providing? Please I would love to hear this, rather than just throwing out the old "intangibles" line.

On pace for single digit goals, 2 assists in his past 12, 1 goal in 29, that tells you it's not offense.

On the ice for the most goals against of any Kings forward, last game Sutter played him 18 seconds total SH. His defensive game has been bad all season.

Physical play? Well his 16 PIM's say otherwise. Even the fans who support the Kings because of Richards have said he is not playing physical and is just waiting to "flip the switch" for the playoffs. This is a player who in his prime years was a 60-80 PIM player and this year he may not crack 30.

Faceoffs? Well he is at 54% so something to celebrate I guess, but he isn't ever going to be the Kings go-to faceoff guy, it's always going to be 11 or 28 depending on which side of the ice the draw is on.

Richards has not been good this year, if the Kings want to contend he will have to pick up his play in all three zones.
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oh to go back to 2 weeks into the season when i got torn apart for having the audacity to say i would trade Richards for Giroux
 
jml87 said:
So I'm wondering who is going to set Mike up for a goal? Frattin isn't really doing anything outside just being the plug of the day and Toffoli should be shooting every chance he gets and is still learning. So he's going to pass the puck 9 times out of 10. He was scoring before because King was setting him up like he does now for Kopi and Carter. So he's going to spend most the game passing it to his linemates, so the way his line is set up now, he's not going to get a lot of goals.

And he may cost 7.6 mil this year but his cap hit is 5.75 and that's all that really matters. He obviously needs to score more than six but setting the bar at 30 is kind of strange when no one besides Carter is even on track for that.
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The people that complain about his cap hit act like they're bankrolling him personally :laugh:
 
Stoll is playing better than Richards right now, but I think it's because he deserves to be playing with Brown and Williams though
 
Vino said:
Give him a good, big LW and he - and Toffoli - starts to produce again.

I just watched Kings-Wild game and it's really pisses me off, that we trade Bernier to Toronto. Niederreiter is just that kind of player what we need. Big, hard working, left shooting young winger, who can score and still plays reliable two-way game. Lombardi just screwed up that trade - and badly.
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We don't land nino with bernier+
 
no name said:
The drop in points directly correlate to removing people of skill off his wing.
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Which is exactly what I previously said- switch the lines which, to me, were working real well with team success, put Mike Richards with Toffoli and whatever LW slug is available, give them 3rd line minutes and watch the team start to lose. By the way, Anze Kopitar, at a cap hit of $6.8 million, is on pace for 66 points and he gets about 4 minutes more TOI than Richards. As far as I'm concerned Richards could be a lot better but given the circumstances, I'm willing to give him a whole lot of slack. There are a number of other players (and maybe coaches) with the Kings who deserve as much, if not more, criticism for their play.
 
Mind you, the Kings could trade Mike Richards; the Leafs are always looking for help at centre ice. Not sure there's any Leafs playing centre who'd be an improvement for the Kings at either the 2C or 3C position, and that includes the Leafs' current 1C. Then maybe those few Kings fans who act like some 2011-12 Flyer fans, would be happy.
 
We should definitely trade him for a winger. Then Stoll can be our second line center. And everyone will call him Stool again.

Our maybe Carter can be our second line center and then everyone can ***** how he sucks because he doesn't have skill on either wing.

This team's best lineup would be by inserting an established winger on Richards' line. The ongoing piece we've needed for a few years.

Then I could enjoy reading a thread about how awful Regher is. Or how awful Lewis is. Or how awful Clifford is. Or how much we could 'hypothetically' get for Brown.
 
KingKopitar11 said:
Stoll is playing better than Richards right now, but I think it's because he deserves to be playing with Brown and Williams though
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Yes, and he's on pace for an amazing 35 points, maybe he'll get 40 if he stays uninjured and continues with Brown and Williams. Not great for a 2C centre but nobody on the Kings gets a lot of points. They're not built that way nor are they coached to play that way.
 
KingKopitar11 said:
He had Brown and Williams on his wing and he did jack with them. It's not like they neutered him, he played himself into that position.
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Williams has chemistry with Kopitar. And Brown is having arguably his worst season ever; he's played garbage hockey for most of the season so I won't fault Richards for not being able to score points with him. Both have built chemistry with Stoll.
 
Reclamation Project said:
Williams has chemistry with Kopitar. And Brown is having arguably his worst season ever; he's played garbage hockey for most of the season so I won't fault Richards for not being able to score points with him. Both have built chemistry with Stoll.
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Yeah but they created something with each other instantly, and for some reason Richards couldn't. It's kind of hard to believe how so many people have a hard time admitting that Richards has been pretty bad. And what about people saying Richards could elevate his linemates? The excuses just pile on. He's been pretty bad and there's nothing else behind it.
 
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