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Should the Buffalo Sabres claim Mike Richards? Plus quick-pops. |
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I’ve always been a fan of Mike Richards. He was a pick of former Philly GM Bobby Clarke who was pretty good at drafting top-notch centers with skill and bite. I love the 2003 draft class, which is one of the best in draft history, where Richards was picked 24th by the Flyers.
When Richards was at his best, his two-way game was amongst the best and he was extremely tough to play against. Although he crossed the line in this writer’s opinion, landing a couple of dirty hits which left David Booth and Tim Connolly injured, the way he masterfully disguised them was sheer genius. His style of play was in lock-step with an old-school attitude in that he’d do anything for the team on the ice. Kind of a throwback to the Broadstreet Bully days captained by Clarke.
Richards’ drive, cunning and chutzpah were attributes that were missing on the Los Angeles Kings in 2011 and I’m a firm believer that he is the main reason they were able to get over the hump and finally raise the Stanley Cup. Not the lone reason, mind you, but without him I’m of the belief that the Kings don’t get it done.
The list of Richards’ team accomplishments is impressive to say the least: Memorial Cup Champion with the Kitchener Rangers, 2003; World Junior Gold Medal, Canada, 2005; Calder Cup Champion with the Philadelphia Phantoms, 2005; Winter Olympics Gold Medal, Canada, 2010; Stanley Cup Champion with the Los Angeles Kings 2012, 2014. And he's the only player in NHL history to win a Memorial Cup, a Calder Cup, and a Stanley Cup as a player.
He also has the distinction, according to his wiki page, of being the first and only player in NHL history to play in two full series in which his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to take the series in seven games (Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, Los Angeles Kings in 2014).
So when the Kings put him on waivers yesterday my initial thought was, “why shouldn’t the Sabres claim him?” He's a high-character player on the ice with an impressive resume who, at 29 yrs. old, still should have plenty to offer.
Richards’ contract stretches out for another five years after this season and although his $5.75m cap-hit might be a burden to some teams, Buffalo could easily absorb it. With the Sabres in rebuild-mode the next two or three years will be devoted to rebuilding with a large group of youngins. After this seasons $7m, Richards’ salary decreases steadily over the rest of his contract: $6m, $5.5m, $4.5m, $3m, $3m. .
Not that it matters all that much to Sabres owner Terry Pegula, but later on down the road, a high cap-hit and low salary would be attractive to teams on a budget looking to get to the cap floor. Even now, the Sabres, with all their young players need high cap hits to stay above the floor and they will some of that during this whole rebuilding process.
As the Sabres bounce at the bottom of the standings this season with all eyes on Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel at the draft, adding one player, especially one that is having the worst season of his career, will do very little to change their outlook right now. In the case of Richards, I’d find it hard to believe that he’d put too much into the game, especially playing for the Sabres this season. Richards is in his 10th NHL season and I find it hard to believe that he’d expend large amounts of energy playing for a team that is going nowhere.
With money and term not really an issue, being able to land a player with a championship background like Richards’ should be a no-brainer. Add in that he could conceivably chill in Buffalo for the next year and a half after having gone deep in the post season (61 playoff games) the last three years with Los Angeles, there’s an opportunity for Richards to recharge and come out of his funk just as the Sabres are to begin their ascent.
Sounds good, right?
But it doesn’t look as if that’s gonna happen with him at this juncture.
Back in June, 2014 Kings GM Dean Lombardi was considering a compliance buyout of Richards remaining contract, but he decided not to. Here’s why, “The biggest thing in the meeting with Michael,” said Lombardi at the time, “the important thing, is that he realized he’s going to have to make some adjustments in his off season training.
“He’s 29. In his prime.”
Lombardi continued, “He was very candid and he realized that he wasn’t anywhere near where he was capable of being. He freely admitted that, and the root is not age or injury. It starts with the understanding that he needed to prepare like a 28-or-29-year-old, not a 22 year old.
“As long as he looked me in the eye and made that promise to an off season commitment, essentially, I have to trust him."
We now see where that trust lead. Five goals, 10 assists, minus-7 rating and fourth-line duties on a defending Stanley Cup Champion Kings team that's presently outside of the playoffs.
So they said, "so long."
Lombardi used a baseball analogy while describing the Kings view of Richards and why they waived him. “Through his career, he’s shown he can be a .330 hitter, 80 RBI’s, an All-Star player,” said Lombardi, “Maybe at this stage, maybe it’s not fair, but I still think he’s capable of being a .280 hitter and [can] do a lot of those things for you that only he can do.
“Let’s face it: right now he’s batting .200. I don’t see any reason why he can’t get back to that. He’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.”
"What he's got to do," and where he's gonna do it are the big questions and what it comes down to for the Sabres in all of this is that they don’t really need to invest that level of trust when it comes to Richards. In fact they need to do nothing and simply pass.
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The Sabres don't really need to expend energy coddling a Mike Richards type player in the hopes he'll regain a semblance of his ".330/80RBI form. They have their own to pay attention to, the latest being 19 yr. old defenseman, Nikita Zadorov.
Zadorov was suspended by the team for not making it back on time after the All-Star break. GM Tim Murray said that he will be back with the team on their current west coast swing and one cold assume that the suspension will only be for a game.
The kid is all of 19 and some slack should be given to him. But we must also keep in mind that Zadorov came into camp talking about wanting to play in the NHL yet failing to do the off season work.
Also of note is that he and his agent, with the help of the KHL team that owned his rights, forced the Sabres' hand when they wanted to send him back to junior. Granted Zadorov did the necessary work to get into NHL game shape, but red flags are starting to pop up with the big defenseman.
One should not expect Zadorov to display the professionalism of fellow 2013 first round draft pick Rasmus Ristolainen, in fact the two look to be polar opposites. But Zadorov needs to realize that true professionals like Ristolainen, Murray, and others are, and will be, bearing the burden of his freedom.
I'd hate to see Zadorov change too much because I love his child-like outlook and I believe it's what make him tick, but the words "high maintenance" are beginning to creep into the equation.
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Much to the dismay of Buffalo Sabres fans, the NY Islanders have been the surprise of the eastern conference this season. Presently they sit atop the Metropolitan Division and are second in the conference.
There offense, which was strong last season, is churning out 3.15 goals/game, good for second best in the league and this off season GM Garth Snow added three key players tighten things up behind the blueline.
From John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Ryan Strome, and Brock Nelson up-front to Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy on the blueline to Jaroslav Halak in net, Snow has put together a pretty formidable group. But the only question with this team is whether they had the depth to overcome injuries which inevitably come.
Defenseman Lubimor Visnovsky has been in and out of the lineup all season and is presently on IR. That wasn't enough to derail the Long Island express as the rest of the team has stayed pretty healthy, until it was learned yesterday that Okposo will be sidelined six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury.
Okposo leads the team in assists with 30 (10th in the league) and is second in points with 44 through 46 games. He is also a key cog on the Isles 13th ranked powerplay with four goals and 16 assists. Plus he leads the team in the shootout with five goals on seven attempts (71.4%) including three game-winners.
This will be the first real test for the Islanders so far this season as the Islanders head for the home stretch with an 31-14-1 record.
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If the Sabres didn't have the Islanders first round pick this season, I'd be a fan of theirs. They have some very talented, very likable players but have been faltering for a long time. Snow had his back against the wall the past 10 months and went all-in, a noble trait. His cause was helped immensely when Boychuk and Leddy fell right in his lap and it couldn't have come at a better time.
But for this season is all about increasing the odds for the first overall pick in the 2015 draft and as far-fetched as it is right now, I'm rooting for an epic fail on the part of the Islanders.
It's purely selfish.
One of the things Murray can do this trade deadline to help the cause is to use his rentals to bolster teams in the eastern conference. Seven points separate the top eight teams in the conference and any help the Sabres can give to any of them to overtake the Islanders is beneficial to Buffalo.
In looking at the standings, Murray also might want to take a look at the Florida Panthers who are seven points out of a playoff spot and 13 points behind the Isles. The Cats have games in hand on every team ahead of them except the NY Rangers.
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Finally, Rochester Americans goalie Matt Hackett was called up by Buffalo as Michal Neuvirth is out with a lower body injury.
It's been a long climb back for Hackett who suffered a pretty gruesome knee surgery late last season in Buffalo.
Good for him making it all the way back.
With Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth soon to be UFA's, Hackett, a restricted free at seasons end has the opportunity to make an impression once again. He did very well last season with the Sabres before going down to injury.
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