Yes. It hasn't been a very good year for Mike Richards. I think everyone knows that. I think everyone also knows we are paying $5.75MM to the current FOURTH LINE center of the Los Angeles Kings.
But should he be a fourth line center?
If your response to this is, "Jason, he's not a fourth line center." I'm telling you right now, the Kings definitely used him like one on Thursday night.
These are the biggest games of the year and when you look at how Richards was used in Game 1 of the series, I just hope it isn't an ominous sign of how they plan on using him the whole series.
No. 10 was used sparingly on Thursday night. At 12:22 of total ice time, it was the 2nd lowest season total Richards had. The only other night he played less was way back on October 29th against Phoenix.
In the last month we've seen Richards bounce from wing to center, and from 2nd line to 4th line. Not that it is a permanent residence, but he was between Nolan and Clifford the majority of Thursday night except for when special teams factored in. His total 5-on-5 ice time fell under 10 minutes the other night for the first time this season.
Richards has recently been supplanted Jeff Carter as the team's 2nd line center, and with Stoll naturally filling out a 3rd line center, the 29 year old has had nowhere to go.
I really don't know, and haven't known how to feel about this. I sit here and ask myself, is this what you have to do with Mike Richards? Despite his struggles against the Sharks it doesn't feel right to have him in sheltered minutes on the 4th line and as a special teams fill in in such a big series. When you look at all the possession numbers and advanced stats as well,
Stoll was far more exposed than Richards in Game 1.
Richards averaged nearly 20 minutes a night in the 2011-12, and the Kings reaped the reward of having him in that role. Right now, it looks like Sutter is content on playing the match up game with Richards, even if that means barely playing him.
So what do you do with him? Do you continue to play him in this role to avoid the damage of the San Jose top lines? Do you play him in a top-6 wing spot? To you give him the 2C spot and play him at 18-20 minutes a night like before? Do you move Carter back to wing with Richards at C? Who plays 4C then? Lewis? Vey? Stoll?
I, for one, am of the mindset that you should be playing Richards as the 2C with Carter at wing. Not only is Carter more threatening coming off the wing, it eases the usage of Stoll, AND it might instill some confidence and belief in Richards. Players are fighters. They want to play. They want to be put in the game. I can only imagine how eaten up Mike Richards was at playing so little in the opening game of the series. Sometimes you bench players to shake them up, sometimes you put them in situations to play themselves out of a funk. I get the feeling that Richards is not the kind of player you sit in this instance. He is a work horse, who is very hard on himself. Despite him not playing his best, I think you just have to take your chances and play the guy where you should.
I recall Quenneville doing something similar with Andrew Shaw recently. The young forward hit a rough patch in late February, and the Blackhawks coach decided it would be time to put him up on the top line to give him a boost. Shaw responded with 12 points in a stretch of 10 games in March. I'm not saying this will have the same effect, but players like to be relied upon and played in situations where they will succeed. I just don't see Mike Richards having an opportunity to succeed in his current role if it continues that way. Nor do I see the Kings succeeding either. No this isn't a "The sky is falling statement." It's a long series, and this was Game 1 of seven. I won't be freaking out unless it's 3-0 Sharks.
It's a matchup, in general, that the Kings can't seem to win right now though.
As our friends over at Jewels From the Crown have pointed out , McClellan has continually tried to match Thornton against Richards this year, and with pretty strong results. If you can get Richards away from Thornton, even then, if Kopitar and Thornton are a wash the San Jose 2nd line is just as potent and equally troubling for the Kings.
This is when hockey is really a glorified chess match. Matchups, matchups, matchups.
While Nick at JFTC suggest keeping Richards and Carter apart in an effort to keep Richards from being exposed. With all do respect to Nick, at this point I say put them back together for Game 2. It's worth a shot. You can play with house money here a little bit in Game 2 given how Game 1 transpired.
Maybe you play Stoll and Richards together on the 3rd line? Maybe you swap Stoll and Richards in the 3C and 4C spot in an effort to get James Sheppard away from Stoll and matched up against No. 10.
There are a few things you can do right now. But ultimately the question is what exactly do you do with Mike Richards right now?
For me, I'm just not seeing 4C as the place for him. Put him in a role where he can succeed. You can argue that given the history, a 2C spot against the Sharks is not a place he can succeed. I say AT THE LEAST give him the 60 minute opportunity to disprove that. He's a big game player. Let him play in the big games. Like I said, you are playing with house money a tiny bit here. You are playing in a series that has historically been home-ice dominant, AND you are coming off a game where you were run out of the building for the first 40 minutes. If you are going to experiment and challenge the odds you might as well do it now rather than when you are down in the series and on the brink of elimination.
Then again, I'm not an NHL coach. We'll see how it goes.
One thing for certain, if Richards is continually used like this there are going to be an unbelievable amount of questions entering this offseason regarding the future of No. 10.
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