only thing that scares me about this is Richards was our "de facto Captain" and he was part of a eastern conference winning team so slats might think he should stay for the short term and sacrifice the long term like he has on multiple occassions
The question is, with so many contracts coming up for renewal, can he afford Richards. Further, for the future, the team would take a cap hit for years and years. I'm not sure how feasible keeping Richards would be, even if thinking short term. My original thinking, without realizing the special buyout provisions that end this year, was he would stay here with MSL in hopes of getting back what he had lost. But now realizing the financial implications, it just doesn't seem to make sense to keep him. As far as being captain...the Rangers got rid of their captain. There are enough leaders on this team to step up. I'm sure they'll be fie.