Mike Richards (Warning in OP)

[kingsfan]

Babych seemed to lose all of his strengths when he shaved his mustache.

Tim Watters also looked off without his stache. Like he lost his ability to fall on the puck to gain a faceoff.

It's less protection to lay on a puck without a moustache that thick.

Certainly won' be playing with Clifford and Nolan on his wings at 5 on 5 and getting little or no power play time, although I'd be half tempted to againmove him to one of the points with Doughty on the number one unit. That seemed to have some earlier success but, for whatever reason, Sutter moved off it and the results speak for themselves.

That may have been a special teams coach call. I'm not sure how hands on Sutter is with the PP/PK.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Certainly won' be playing with Clifford and Nolan on his wings at 5 on 5 and getting little or no power play time, although I'd be half tempted to againmove him to one of the points with Doughty on the number one unit. That seemed to have some earlier success but, for whatever reason, Sutter moved off it and the results speak for themselves.

It does seem to work and jump started his production a little. If nothing else it's nice to havea different look than our usual stale powerplay...but maybe Sutter is scared of SHGs with Richards and DOughty. Shrug.

And yeah who knows how hands-on he is with the PP/PK.

 

[LAKings88]

Certainly won' be playing with Clifford and Nolan on his wings at 5 on 5 and getting little or no power play time, although I'd be half tempted to againmove him to one of the points with Doughty on the number one unit. That seemed to have some earlier success but, for whatever reason, Sutter moved off it and the results speak for themselves.

He hasn't produced even with scoring wingers.

 

[Winger23]

He hasn't produced even with scoring wingers.

Aside from pearson and toffoli, who actually is considered a scoring winger on this team? I don't think he's had any time with gabs, so im not sure what people are expecting from him.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Basically outside of the 70's, he's like the only forward producing anything with anybody.

 

[KingsFan7824]

When Richards was with the Flyers, he wasn't a great 5 on 5 scorer. What pushed his numbers up was the PP points. As a King, I've thought Richards is normally a different player when he's on the point on the PP. His passes are usually crisper, quicker, he seems more decisive, and his shot actually has something on it. I don't know what happens to him at ES.

Unfortunately, the Kings PP just isn't any good as a collective unit on a consistent basis.

 

[MsMeow]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but pretty sure Richards (and Carter, for that matter) doesn't have a NMC. They would have kicked in shortly after they were traded out of Philadelphia (July 1st of that year?) but would have only applied had they stayed in Philadelphia. Which kind of explained Carter's discomfort with going to Columbus at the time. Signs a long term contract in Philadelphia with a home town discount, buys a place on the Jersey shores and gets traded to Columbus less than a year later.

They did almost exactly the same thing to Hartnell this year except Hartnell told them to kiss his ass and waived his NMC to move on (I think Hartnell had signed a 6 year contract about a year ago). We all know what happened in LA the past three years after Richards and Carter showed up (although they were only an auxiliary piece to LAs' success, according to some Philly fans) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Columbus make the play-offs and have a long run with Hartnell there; Philadelphia not so much. Funny how that works.

They both lost their NMCs when they were traded.

 

[kingsfan]

He hasn't produced even with scoring wingers.

People keep posting this and while yes, he only has six points in 13 games, he's also right now fourth on the team in scoring. He's produced double what Kopitar and Williams have so far, and triple Brown. Yet all we hear is Richards isn't producing. He's one of the few that's doing anything at all outside of that 70's line.

 

[The Tikkanen]

They both lost their NMCs when they were traded.

I got my info from CapGeek regarding Richards' NTC, he was the only King player with the lock next to his name.

 

[Fishhead]

I am far more concerned with the play of Williams, Muzzin, and to a lesser extent Kopitar and Gaborik than Richards. Richards was our best all around forward last night, he's steadily improved this season.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

People keep posting this and while yes, he only has six points in 13 games, he's also right now fourth on the team in scoring. He's produced double what Kopitar and Williams have so far, and triple Brown. Yet all we hear is Richards isn't producing. He's one of the few that's doing anything at all outside of that 70's line.

I agree with this 100% good post.

 

[bmr]

I am far more concerned with the play of Williams, Muzzin, and to a lesser extent Kopitar and Gaborik than Richards. Richards was our best all around forward last night, he's steadily improved this season.

I'm not worried about Muzzin and Williams. Muzzin got a late start this season due to injury and he will be just fine once he gets into a groove. I don't question Williams with his heart/desire either. He will be fine once Kopitar and Gaborik start clicking. I like the way Sutter rolled the lines last night.

 

[kingsfan]

I got my info from CapGeek regarding Richards' NTC, he was the only King player with the lock next to his name.

If you hover your mouse over that lock you'll see it says trade may have voided the no trade clause. I'm positive I read something that stated DL elected to void the NTC after the deal, as was the teams option to do so at the time.

 

[wabwat]

People keep posting this and while yes, he only has six points in 13 games, he's also right now fourth on the team in scoring. He's produced double what Kopitar and Williams have so far, and triple Brown. Yet all we hear is Richards isn't producing. He's one of the few that's doing anything at all outside of that 70's line.

well when Jim does a slo-mo inch by inch breakdown on Kopitar leaning on a defender to maintain position, it's not hard to gather what people are seemingly most interested in watching.

no slagging Kopi, but c'mon, do we really need fluff about someone playing his position?

 

[damacles1156]

I got my info from CapGeek regarding Richards' NTC, he was the only King player with the lock next to his name.

Dean Lombardi voided the NMC/NTC, the team had that option once Mike Richards was traded.

Dustin Brown is the only King, that has an agreement (Handshake) with Lombardi about NMC/NTC.

 

[LAKings88]

People keep posting this and while yes, he only has six points in 13 games, he's also right now fourth on the team in scoring. He's produced double what Kopitar and Williams have so far, and triple Brown. Yet all we hear is Richards isn't producing. He's one of the few that's doing anything at all outside of that 70's line.

Over the course of the last three seasons?

I like Richards even if he is not producing like he once did. Just saying, I'd be surprised if he ever reaches 70 points again. At 50 points a season he is a little over payed but at least he performs in other areas of need. Most of the Kings would probably be higher scorers on other teams as well. Is what it is. I don't hate him but at this point in his career he is more of a third line center. Works for the Kings.

 

[kingsfan]

Over the course of the last three seasons?

I like Richards even if he is not producing like he once did. Just saying, I'd be surprised if he ever reaches 70 points again. At 50 points a season he is a little over payed but at least he performs in other areas of need. Most of the Kings would probably be higher scorers on other teams as well. Is what it is. I don't hate him but at this point in his career he is more of a third line center. Works for the Kings.

Who said anything about the last three seasons? I'm talking about this season. Nowhere did I mention anything pre-2014-2015 season.

 

[KINGS17]

Aside from pearson and toffoli, who actually is considered a scoring winger on this team? I don't think he's had any time with gabs, so im not sure what people are expecting from him.

I dunno, I'm expecting Richards to make his wingers better and produce a little offense considering the competition their line is usually up against. It's not like he is seeing the other team's top d-pairing when he is out there.

 

[Herby]

I dunno, I'm expecting Richards to make his wingers better and produce a little offense considering the competition their line is usually up against. It's not like he is seeing the other team's top d-pairing when he is out there.

Remember when Richards was centering Toffoli and Pearson for a bit last year and people said "No one can be expected to produce with two rookies" , yet Carter did just that. And the thing is, Richards has had chances to play with a lot of different players and it really hasn't clicked. Didn't work with Carter, didn't work with Williams, Brown, King or the two rookies, didn't really work to well playing wing on the first line for a few games this season. Eventually you have to stop attributing the lack of offensive production to linemates.

Richards has improved this season, last year he was on the fourth line because he was god awful most nights. He now looks like he can be a third line center who contributes a bit more offensively than most third line centers but one who is clearly not going to play a serious defensive role.

The Kings are set up the middle with Kopitar and Carter, I think the question for Dean this summer is who is a better player relative to their cap hit, Richards at $5.7 million until 2020 or Stoll at $3 million until 2018 (my best guess on a Stoll extension). I am of the opinion that Stoll would be the better value, mostly because he has been so much better defensively than Richards, and that is an important aspect for the Kings, who play a lot of close low scoring games. The thing Richards has going for him that Stoll doesn't is that he can provide insurance for a potential injury to Kopitar or Carter way better than Stoll would.

 

[damacles1156]

Richards looked fine with King/Brown. What's the problem ? Richards has also been fine Defensively(so far this season). No idea why that is coming up.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Remember when Richards was centering Toffoli and Pearson for a bit last year and people said "No one can be expected to produce with two rookies" , yet Carter did just that. And the thing is, Richards has had chances to play with a lot of different players and it really hasn't clicked. Didn't work with Carter, didn't work with Williams, Brown, King or the two rookies, didn't really work to well playing wing on the first line for a few games this season. Eventually you have to stop attributing the lack of offensive production to linemates.

Last year Richards did just fine with Toffoli before his season fell apart mid-December.

For the month Richards and Toffoli were paired together, from early November to early December, Toffoli scored 8 times. Richards was his linemate for 7 of them, and looked to assist on all but one.

Meanwhile Richards scored 4 goals, and Toffoli was working with him on 3. A couple were powerplay markers but they were still working together on the ice.

While skating alongside the pairing of Richards and Toffoli, King and Clifford potted a couple goals as well in that time.

Richards, Toffoli and x pulled their weight in the time they had before Richards' season imploded because of fitness issues. He was productive with Carter too, but the problem was that pairings' overall commitment to defense - at the time.

You want to argue that Richards was a train wreck offensively last year? Fine, but keep it isolated to after Christmas, and stop discounting what success he had beforehand. Want to argue he was bad defensively last year? Fine, but keep it isolated to last year. Can't disagree with those points if - they can be kept in context without the hyperbole drifting in.

 

[wabwat]

Last year Richards did just fine with Toffoli before his season fell apart mid-December.

For the month Richards and Toffoli were paired together, from early November to early December, Toffoli scored 8 times. Richards was his linemate for 7 of them, and looked to assist on all but one.

Meanwhile Richards scored 4 goals, and Toffoli was working with him on 3. A couple were powerplay markers but they were still working together on the ice.

While skating alongside the pairing of Richards and Toffoli, King and Clifford potted a couple goals as well in that time.

Richards, Toffoli and x pulled their weight in the time they had before Richards' season imploded because of fitness issues. He was productive with Carter too, but the problem was that pairings' overall commitment to defense - at the time.

You want to argue that Richards was a train wreck offensively last year? Fine, but keep it isolated to after Christmas, and stop discounting what success he had beforehand. Want to argue he was bad defensively last year? Fine, but keep it isolated to last year. Can't disagree with those points if - they can be kept in context without the hyperbole drifting in.

Richards also looked fine and the offense produced when he centered Toffoli and Pearson during camp as well.

he was fine on Kopitar's left side this year so far too... including feeding 11 on two breakaways that Anze couldn't convert.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Who's that guy wearing #10 of late?

 

[Reclamation Project]

He needs to keep it up.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Richards is producing? But who is everyone gonna attack now?