Speculation: Will Richards Be A King Come Next Season?

[fyrescorp]

And if his level of play improves dramatically that creates more issues at the end of next year. Do you keep him or get rid of someone else. His below par performance has made him the odd man out due to his contract, but what if he plays up to his contract value? Who goes?

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

And if his level of play improves dramatically that creates more issues at the end of next year. Do you keep him or get rid of someone else. His below par performance has made him the odd man out due to his contract, but what if he plays up to his contract value? Who goes?

Having desirable players playing at or above their contract value is never a problem

 

[Herby]

And if his level of play improves dramatically that creates more issues at the end of next year. Do you keep him or get rid of someone else. His below par performance has made him the odd man out due to his contract, but what if he plays up to his contract value? Who goes?

Then they probably don't re-sign Stoll. But if it gets to that point Richards is going to have to show that his value is nearly twice as much as Stoll's in the third line center spot. And really it's not so much about the offense, Richards defensive play needs to do a 180 for him to assume that roll. Stoll was drawing some difficult defensive assignments in this years playoffs. Richards has been horrendous defensively the past two seasons.

I just feel like when it comes down to it the Kings would rather have Stoll at 3m and use the extra money to re-sign a guy like Pearson rather than use it on MR. Big difference between 3m and $5.75m

It's funny because this summer should be pretty quiet on the Kings front, but at this time next year there is going to be all kinds of scenarios and ways for the Kings to go to free up that cap space.

 

[fyrescorp]

Having desirable players playing at or above their contract value is never a problem

Until you're forced to give raises to the lower paid support players to keep them too. I can see what Herby is trying to say (and I proudly wear a Mike Richards jersey). With a salary cap eventually something has to give if everyone is playing to their contract value.

 

[HYORI 1963]

It's funny because this summer should be pretty quiet on the Kings front, but at this time next year there is going to be all kinds of scenarios and ways for the Kings to go to free up that cap space.

Should be fun.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Until you're forced to give raises to the lower paid support players to keep them too. I can see what Herby is trying to say (and I proudly wear a Mike Richards jersey). With a salary cap eventually something has to give if everyone is playing to their contract value.

That's fine, at least at that point you are going to be getting good value for trading them. The thought that you need to keep every player from a cup winning team is foreign to me, you should always be trying to improve because the teams you beat sure will be

 

[MsMeow]

Then they probably don't re-sign Stoll. But if it gets to that point Richards is going to have to show that his value is nearly twice as much as Stoll's in the third line center spot. And really it's not so much about the offense, Richards defensive play needs to do a 180 for him to assume that roll. Stoll was drawing some difficult defensive assignments in this years playoffs. Richards has been horrendous defensively the past two seasons.

I just feel like when it comes down to it the Kings would rather have Stoll at 3m and use the extra money to re-sign a guy like Pearson rather than use it on MR. Big difference between 3m and $5.75m

It's funny because this summer should be pretty quiet on the Kings front, but at this time next year there is going to be all kinds of scenarios and ways for the Kings to go to free up that cap space.

Thing is, Stoll is 3 years older, also has concussion issues, only plays on the PK or 5 on 5 with occasional PP time. Richards plays centre, PK, PP, gets put on Carter's wing on the 2nd line when needed (Sutter did this by putting him on LW or RW in place of Pearson and Toffoli), and can replace Carter at centre on the 2nd line if Carter gets injured. Stoll is much more limiting.

 

[HYORI 1963]

Thing is, Stoll is 3 years older, also has concussion issues, only plays on the PK or 5 on 5 with occasional PP time. Richards plays centre, PK, PP, gets put on Carter's wing on the 2nd line when needed (Sutter did this by putting him on LW or RW in place of Pearson and Toffoli), and can replace Carter at centre on the 2nd line if Carter gets injured. Stoll is much more limiting.

I don't think Stoll being older matters. Clearly, Stoll is in much better physical shape than Richards. Also, in case you forgot, Richards has concussion issues as well.

 

[Twin]

Long shot but anyone think Kings are gonna use buyouts?

 

[MsMeow]

I don't think Stoll being older matters. Clearly, Stoll is in much better physical shape than Richards. Also, in case you forgot, Richards has concussion issues as well.

Hence the word ALSO in my post.

 

[HYORI 1963]

Hence the word ALSO in my post.

My bad.

 

[Moses Doughty]

Not sure if it's been suggested, only saw about buying him out and having him dealt back to us, could we concievably trade Richards to a team like Buffalo, have them buy him out, and we resign him for cheaper? It's been said Murray is looking to buy 1sts.

 

[GKJ]

Not sure if it's been suggested, only saw about buying him out and having him dealt back to us, could we concievably trade Richards to a team like Buffalo, have them buy him out, and we resign him for cheaper? It's been said Murray is looking to buy 1sts.

Could do so via amnesty, not regular buyout. Possible, even palatable. Bottom line is if the 1st is worth that cap space. Deano probably not going to dig being without a 1st and 2nd round pick.


Next question is if it's even worth it. Stoll is still signed, that's probably too many centers for one of them to be on the 4th line. Richards or Stoll may have to commit to changing positions

 

[Moses Doughty]

Could do so via amnesty, not regular buyout. Possible, even palatable. Bottom line is if the 1st is worth that cap space. Deano probably not going to dig being without a 1st and 2nd round pick.


Next question is if it's even worth it. Stoll is still signed, that's probably too many centers for one of them to be on the 4th line. Richards or Stoll may have to commit to changing positions

I was thinking Richards+1st for BUF 2nd. That seemed to be the proposals being sent out

 

[HYORI 1963]

Moving Richards to 3LW could be an option replacing King, if we keep Stoll as our 3C and Carter as our 2C. This will also allow one of our youngsters at a shot at 4C: Vey, Shore, Weal and maybe even AA, although, AA will probably be a wing.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Instead of just calling them 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line, 4th line, why not look at it as having 1A, 1B, 2nd and 3rd lines. The ice time distribution between Carter, Stoll and Richards respectively was 21, 18, 17 and 15 mins per game (rounded up) throughout the playoffs.

If Richards improves his conditioning and fitness level, I could see Sutter sliding him up and giving him more minutes, depending on the situation and what is called for. We saw this adjustment in Game 5 and it worked out perfectly as Richards did a terrific job in picking off passes and forcing the Rangers to reset in their own zone. He thwarted many breakout attempts and kept pinning the Rangers deep in their side of the ice, and he did this when he was bumped up to centering Carter and Pearson while Lewis centered Clifford and Toffoli.

I think it would be very likely to see this alignment up front to start the 2014-15 season (with the assumption that everyone returns):

Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
King-Richards-Williams
Clifford-Stoll-Lewis

Richards can still produce on a line with King and Williams and can feed passes to those two wingers who are both capable of putting pucks in net. I don't know about the rest of you but Richards' performance in the Finals instilled some confidence in me that this guy can bounce back and find his game next season.

 

[HYORI 1963]

I'm not pro or anti Richards, but Richards was ok. He wasn't terrible, and he wasn't great, just ok. I have a feeling that some of you would be singing a different tune about Richards, if the kings hadn't won the cup.

 

[Mike Carr]

I think Richards will be kept because of how close to Carter and how good the whole team get on. I don't think we disrupt the team because of a bit of an overpayment. Also good chance Richie has a better next season. He still scored about 40 points didn't he? with reduced minutes etc. A happy Carter is good for us. I reckon if Carts was on 7 m and Ritchie 3.5 we would all be happy - just think of it as Carts gives Ritchie 20% of his salary and were all happy ha ha

 

[reset]

think about it... if richards get bought out, there will be 29 other teams trying to sign him. I hear chicago and the ducks among others are looking for a solid second line center.

Richie goes nowhere. IMO, he played well for us in the playoffs and was a significant contributor to both our cups.

 

[kingsfansince1967]

Mike Richards will be on the King's roster come October first and foremost because of the many intangibles he brings to this team.

 

[Kingler]

Richards contract is fine, cap hit is around 9% and it will diminish as the cap increases, if say cap increase linearly by $7mio a year, his contract will account for 1% less of total cap per year for each following year. So next year its 8%, then 7% in 2015-16...etc. So that means that in 1-2 years time, he's contract will likely be considered "cheap" compare to going out and grab a decent/good UFA, who probably get around 7-9% of cap space. David Clarkson, for example, got around 8% of total cap space

He's total salary will also be coming off after peeking in 2012-13

So, all in all, he's cap hit is quite decent and we don't have any salary cap issue...I don't see why trade him just to have the very real possibility of ruining team chemistry

 

[Buddy The Elf]

I'm not pro or anti Richards, but Richards was ok. He wasn't terrible, and he wasn't great, just ok. I have a feeling that some of you would be singing a different tune about Richards, if the kings hadn't won the cup.

But they did and I don't think it matters whether they won the Cup or not. The GM's opinion is all that matters and he isn't/wasn't going to buy him out regardless.

 

[HYORI 1963]

But they did and I don't think it matters whether they won the Cup or not. The GM's opinion is all that matters and he isn't/wasn't going to buy him out regardless.

My post was to the posters who seem to be back on the Richards bandwagon, because he had a decent playoffs, not Lombardi. We all know that DL isn't going to buyout Richards.

 

[etherialone]

My post was to the posters who seem to be back on the Richards bandwagon, because he had a decent playoffs, not Lombardi. We all know that DL isn't going to buyout Richards.

To be fair I and many others have been supporting MR from the beginning and not simply due to his solid playoffs. I also believe that MR should remain a King in the same way that I have believed in and supported other former Kings when they have struggled to perform up to expectations during their time with the team. What troubles me more than MR having a tough stretch during this past season because we all know that he was rolling along just fine until mid December or so is how some of us wanted to cut bait on a player who's appearance was responsible for changing the culture of our team from try hard to winners.

I honestly believe and am very certain that there are several players and mgmt people throughout the Kings org that if we hadn't brought MR into this org that we would never have won our first cup let alone our second.

I am happy to give the guy his shot this coming season to recapture his scoring touch and if he doesn't then find a way to manage his hit so that he can continue to bring the rest of his game to the team. I know it will impact our cap but I simply don't care. I think that labeling MR a 3rd liner and nothing more is just a very narrow description of what he brings to the table and also a sort of traditional way of looking at an aspect of a changing game.

This team has for 3 seasons now shown right or wrong that no line is written in stone and that any player can play on any line at any time during any game. So to me MR is more of a critical smart skilled player who is capable of playing and very well for stretches on our 1st line and then spend large segments of the rest of his time leading our bottom 6. The same can be said for everyone with the exception of Kopi and Gabby and that is about it and even then both of them can be too.


So while we all know/knew that it would be highly unlikely for MR to be bought out I think that there are several reasons for why that is the case and that they are significantly more than the simple fact that MR had a solid playoffs. I agree that if you judge him by the numbers and even the eye test that he isn't playing at the level that he is usually capable of playing but that doesn't mean that he can't return to his former ways or that you give up on such a critical part of our team's success due to the fact that his game has changed for a period of time and even if it is a permanent change to his abilities then the rest of what he is capable of bringing the team means that you at least give him this coming season to find out what it is exactly that he can do before making any judgement on what will be the best permanent solution.

 

[fyrescorp]

I hope I wasn't included in those wanting to get rid of MR. My game superstition was my Keith Richards for president under my Mike Richards jersey! I love the leadership he brings and I want nothing more than for him to have a great next season. I want him to retire a King. I just hope it's financially possible.