Re: Richards, it's a move you make ten out of ten times. A gifted center (enough with the 'superstar' stuff, it's ridiculous trying to debate who is and who isn't, there are three legitimate game changers in the NHL - Crosby, Malkin, Kovalchuk) hitting free-agency is an anomaly. It shouldn't happen. If you're lucky enough to have him fall into your lap, and you can do it without absolutely decimating your cap situation, you do it. Richards only looks bad now because of the new cap-recapture. If the previous CBA just rolled forward, or if the current CBA didn't have the cap recapture, he's fine. He's playing poorly now, but he's the kind of player you'd bank on having a rebound just because the body of his work, and, also, because the strengths of his game are minimized in the system in which we play. Unless there's a stretch of his career I missed, he was never a "set up in the corner" center, he's always been a carry in and pass off the rush player.
The moves we should regret is something like Nash (not because it's Nash, but because we were more or less set on the wing and we hurt our center depth) or letting skilled bottom-6 players walk (like Prospal). If you're going to play in free-agency, overpayment is expected. If you can get a 1 or 1A center in free agency, you can't second guess yourself.
