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Speculation: Will Richards Be A King Come Next Season?

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Herby said:
Sorry I forgot to do this last week...



Muzzin- 4 years, 14 million

I believe the growth will continue through next season and he will get a significant increase. I think he is better than Nick Leddy ($2.7 mill), Jared Spurgeon (2.7), Kevin Klein ($2.9 mill). Who all signed deals when the cap was lower than it will be when Muzzin is a FA.

Martinez- 4 years, 13-14 million

This might be a bit high for Martinez, but someone will give this to him, he is still going to only be 28 and hitting UFA with likely multiple championships under his belt. This year he has proven to be a big game player who has logged many key minutes and made many key plays on this years run.

Toffoli - ???

I fully expect Tyler Toffoli, if he is given 2nd line icetime and PP icetime to score 25+ goals next season and eventually develop into a 30+ goal guy every season, he has great hands and a Robitaille like sense in the offensive zone to find space in prime areas, I have no doubt in my mind that this is a future star player. So the question is what is the going rate for a 22 year old 25+ goal scorer (with tons of room to grow) with a quickly developing two-way game who also has a SC ring. I just fear that with all these long term contracts the Kings have on the roster and the issues with fitting everyone in that TT would be a prime candidate to be offer sheeted and then that is when the numbers get silly. A team like Vancouver who has had an awful time developing it's own young players could make a big offer, even if the Kings matched it (and they would) it then puts us in an even bigger hole.


Pearson 2 years, 2.3 million

I like Pearson although I don't think he is quite as dynamic as TT will be. I think he plays well next season as the 2nd line lw and compromises on a shorter term deal with the anticipation that he cashes in big a couple of years after that.

Stoll 3 years, 9.6 million

Very similar to what he has now. Stoll has been very solid in these playoffs, and he fits better in the Kings system that he would elsewhere. I think maybe someone looking for a third line centerman who can win faceoffs and has championship experience could offer closer to $4, but I think Stoll is happy in LA and the Kings are happy with him.

Williams 3 years, $14 million

And I'm pretty sure if the Kings do decide to keep Richards that this is the guy they might lose. Williams has built quite the reputation around the league in the last few years. Someone out there who thinks they are missing that one key veteran could decide to overpay for him

Regehr 2 years, 6 million

Similar to what we have going now with him. They could also cut him loose and bring in someone of the same caliber for about the same $3 million. But it will be very interesting to see what happens, as of now only Doughty and Voynov are signed beyond next season.
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Just out of curiosity, what was the purpose of this exercise?

Getting back to your post...

As for RR, there is NO way DL is going to give RR another 2 year or anything close to a 3M AAV. I'd be shocked if Lombardi gave him an extension, period! Next season should be his last with the kings.

As for Stoll and JW, I can see why you think of them so highly, but I honestly think these two will take a discount to remain a king. I'm hoping for a year extension, with maximum of 2 yr.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
Is it me or are some people really just over thinking this whole cap situation? Did a quick look on capgeek. Assuming Gaborik re-signs at $6M, Mitchell at $3M, King at $1.2M and McNabb at $1M, the Kings still have almost $2M in cap space with a complete lineup with no holes to fill on the roster.

In 2015, the contracts of Stoll, Williams, Regehr and Martinez will be up and they will all be UFAs. RFAs will be Toffoli, Pearson, Muzzin, Jones, Clifford and Nolan, and we don't know how high the cap ceiling will be by that time.

Richards will be in the opening lineup in 2014-15. We just don't know exactly where in the lineup he will be penciled in.
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Pretty much this.

I question if Martinez and Clifford will be around in a year or two. I love Martinez, but for the minutes he generally pulls, I'm not entirely ok with giving him big money. DO NOT flip him for flimsy futures assets, use his last cheap year here to the fullest, and see what he wants after that, but be prepared to transition in the youth. Clifford has had his ups and downs, but I think he could be sold "high" after the playoffs end. From the sounds of things he has a replacement in Andreoff waiting in the wings.

Those are the sort of players you lose in a scenario we might be faced with. Not the Williams' and Stolls of the team.
 
Basilisk said:
Maybe they can buy-out his existing contract and turn around and sign him to something far more reasonable?

Does anyone know the math on buying-out existing contracts?

It'd be like Dean offering Richards a $20 million signing bonus in exchange for a new contract..... maybe....! Again, I don't know the math involved. But if it opens up $3.5 million in cap space, it's probably worth a try......
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If they use a compliance buy out they cannot have Richards on the roster for 12 months after that.
 
MsWoof said:
They could even put him in the AHL if he's really bad and won't retire, couldn't they? He doesn't have a NMC or NTC now.
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That would only take away ~950K of his cap hit. You can only "hide" league minimum + 250K in the AHL. So even in AHL Richards would have a 4 million plus cap hit.
 
Black1963 said:
I find it interesting that in the early part of the season, when Richards was playing very well, he was basically an "untouchable". I remember a certain thread where posters were saying that they wouldn't trade him for an Ovechkin or anyone else for that matter. And now we're talking about a potential buyout.
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It is also interesting after a very poor 2nd half and mediocre playoff(by his standard)
that people want to keep him no matter the cost.
 
Ok... I don't believe that there will be a buyout... so what do you trade Richards for? Target UFA's? Can you spend on UFA's since so many people think the cap is a problem? Bring back Mitchell/Greene? What about their recent injuries?
 
Reclamation Project said:
Regehr would be an expensive #7, but I do like the idea of him staying fresh.
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Yeah, but if you give McNabb a crash course at #6 the cap hit would offset. Muzzin got a crash course at #2... just chuck em in the deep end with sharks in the pool... they'll figure it out.
 
Trolfoli said:
Yeah, but if you give McNabb a crash course at #6 the cap hit would offset. Muzzin got a crash course at #2... just chuck em in the deep end with sharks in the pool... they'll figure it out.
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That's true. Not worried about Regehr either as it's his last season.
 
kenito7 said:
When is the last time he played on PP1? Sutter likes to play his Centers on pull
the goalie 6-5 situations, they are better at faceoffs. Actually Kopitar played the
top line against the Hawks, Ducks and Sharks.
No question Richards does some good things but does that mean you can afford to
pay a 3rd or 4th line center 5.75 million? I do not think you can. Since this is the
last year for a compliance buy out I think you must at least consider it. His trade
value could not be that high with 34 million and 6 years left on his contract. If you
do not buy him out and he has another year like this one he has no value at all.
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Yeah, that's because Kopitar is the Kings best shutdown center. He's one of the top shutdown centers in the entire league. Even Richards would admit that. There's a reason Kopi is up for the Selke, and there's a reason he is getting all the press as not only one of the top two-way centers in the game, but also one of the top players in the game.
Are you really comparing Richards to Kopitar? That's really not fair to Richards when you think about it, because those are very big shoes to fill.
 
kingsfan said:
League minimum is $700,000 now? I thought is was still $550,000.
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Yeah it's still 550K for next year. Couldn't remember the numbers last night. Goes to 575K next year, eventually to 750K by 2021-22.

It's league minimum + 375K that can be hidden in minors. Any amount higher than that still counts towards cap. So for example if Kings put Richards in minors for the remainder of his contract starting next year it his caphit would 2014-15: 4,825,000; 2015-16 and 2016-17: 4,800,000; 2017-18 and 2018-19: 4,725,000; 2019-20: 4,675,000
 
Scottkmlps said:
Yeah, that's because Kopitar is the Kings best shutdown center. He's one of the top shutdown centers in the entire league. Even Richards would admit that. There's a reason Kopi is up for the Selke, and there's a reason he is getting all the press as not only one of the top two-way centers in the game, but also one of the top players in the game.
Are you really comparing Richards to Kopitar? That's really not fair to Richards when you think about it, because those are very big shoes to fill.
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I think he was replying to the ridiculous comments by another user that Richards plays a "shutdown role" against other teams top lines so that Kopitar can "focus on offense"

Both those comments are simply incredible from someone who claims to be a follower of the team.

I think that's what he was replying to.
 
I actually wonder what Richards is thinking. From captain and 1st line center to 4th line center in 3 years. One cup and hopefully two is great though.

Yet he cant be too happy with his numbers. Of course he does the little things and I would seriously be sad to see him go but wow...what a decline.

I never ever thought this would have been possible at age 29.
 
Frolov 6'3 said:
I actually wonder what Richards is thinking. From captain and 1st line center to 4th line center in 3 years. One cup and hopefully two is great though.

Yet he cant be too happy with his numbers. Of course he does the little things and I would seriously be sad to see him go but wow...what a decline.

I never ever thought this would have been possible at age 29.
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The decline happened in December. I am betting it's a mental/confidence thing more than anything else. Same type of thing with Brown.
 
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I would love nothing more than both Brown and Richards to have monster seasons next year. Brown is already starting to rebound.
 
Hughson just said the tougher the situation, the more he leans on Richards and Carter. They and Toffoli are looking good tonight.
 
Richards looked great tonight. Created so many chances and setup a beautiful chance for King who could've won it in OT.

I thought he looked more engaged than Kopitar tonight and was giving the Rangers a lot of problems, especially on the PK.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
Richards looked great tonight. Created so many chances and setup a beautiful chance for King who could've won it in OT.

I thought he looked more engaged than Kopitar tonight and was giving the Rangers a lot of problems, especially on the PK.
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I think something must have happened to Kopi late in the Chicago series. He's just over 40% in the dot. That is not normal for him and the Rangers are a poor faceoff team. Only other thing could be all the jumping that the Rangers are doing and getting those 50/50 draws that normally the Kings get.
But can't argue that Richards is playing well right now.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
Richards looked great tonight. Created so many chances and setup a beautiful chance for King who could've won it in OT.

I thought he looked more engaged than Kopitar tonight and was giving the Rangers a lot of problems, especially on the PK.
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Yeah, Richards had a very good game.
 
Richards was beasting tonight. Sutter rewarded him with more ice time and jumping up a couple of lines.

Mr. Playoff Hockey. He was ****ing unbelievable tonight.
 
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