The Richards Suitors

Free Agent Frenzy is almost upon us and Brad Richards is the biggest prize. The Rangers have been interested in acquiring Richards for nearly a year at this point and tomorrow they will have to opportunity to land him without giving up any assets.

But it's no guarantee Brad will be wearing Ranger Blue come October; Richard's agent expects to receive offers from up to 20 teams, although many of them will not meet many of Richards' demands. The team that Brad will end up on will be in a strong hockey market with a chance to go deep in the playoffs; Brad wants to win. He also believes this will be his final contract, therefore he wants to cash in and have the deal take him up until the day he retires.

Clearly not every team can provide Brad with his wishes, therefore there are a limited amount of players who will do their best to entice Brad tomorrow. Many believe these "players" include the Rangers, Leafs, Red Wings, Sabres and Lightning. Some of them seem to have exactly what Brad wants, others may have more of a certain wish of Brad's rather than all of them. Obviously this is a Rangers blog and we like to believe that we, with the help of Richards, can contend for the cup in a few years. That's yet to be seen, but what the Rangers do have going for them is this is a (fairly) strong hockey market and we have a young and up-and-coming team (another of Brad's desires). The problem is, Toronto and Buffalo share this in common, and they both will have more cap space than the Rangers. Toronto's young players may be a bit more far off than the Rangers' , but it's still something to consider.

Many insiders say that Brad's heart is still in Tampa, but will they have enough money to resign Stamkos this year, Hedman next year plus add Richards? And will the owners be willing to flip the bill to push the Bolts up to the max-salary tier the Rangers and Toronto are in? It's all yet to be seen, but I believe the bridges have been burned with Richards and Tampa and financially they cannot support his contract. Then there's Detroit. After the retirement of Rafalski the Wings have a little bit of money to play with. Obviously they will be contenders for the Cup, but it seems as if they would rather use that extra money to find a replacement for Rafalski than sign another center. Also from Richards' point of view, it's somewhat up in the air what this team might look like in the future with Lidstrom and Datsyuk getting older, that could be a turn off for him.

Richards will milk every team he can to get what he wants and I do not think he signs anywhere tomorrow, but if he does, you can bet he will get what he wants. The teams I've discussed all appear to be loading up for tomorrow and all of them will be strong suitors. It will come down to what Brad feels is the best overall situation for him, his career and his family. Despite what Larry Brooks of the New York Post said the other day, that Brad is telling those around him that he will be a Ranger come Friday, many others (including myself) believe the Rangers will be in a dogfight over #91.

Drury Bought Out/ How Certain Are You About Richards?

What started out as a potential nightmare for the Rangers has finally come to an end, and the 25th Captain has accepted a buy out to clear cap space for this upcoming free agency. Now before we all rejoice about all the money we now have available, and the fact that we don't have a 4th liner making $7 million a year, lets examine the facts.

Drury's cap hit was set at just over $5 million heading into the season, and it had already been predetermined he wasn't going to play. He was set to file for medical exception, which would have (at least for the time being) kept his cap hit on the team. This money would have been guarenteed, and Drury wouldn't have had to do anything except sign a piece of paper. Instead, like a real captain, he declined the medical exception, and accepted the buyout from the Rangers, and now his cap it is almost cut in half. If nothing else, this is what I will remember about his tenure in New York.

At this point, the Rangers are now in the top 8 (1 million short of #5) in the NHL as far as available cap space. Before you get too ahead of yourselves and declare Brad Richards a Ranger, remember that we must sign Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, Boyle, Sauer (and quite possibly Prospal and Fedotenko). That being said, we should still have sufficient room to bring in the only real offensive threat in this seasons free agent class.

Let me ask you this before you cream your pants at the thought of Brad Richards feeding Marian Gaborik the puck on the top line as well as the powerplay; how badly do you really want Brad Richards? It's common knowledge that he wants this to be his last NHL contract, and only wants to go to a team that has a real chance to be a cup contender. He also wants anywhere from 7-8 years and will require top dollar. Far and away, Brad Richards would be the best top line center we've had since Nylander (Nylander Staka Jagr... fuck you haters), but by the time his contract is up he would be almost 39 years old. Even if we sign Brad Richards on July 1st, does anyone truly believe we are an instant cup contender? Sure, it'd be swell to make it out of the first round, but look at what the Flyers did last year. I'd rather get my shit handed to me right off the bat than go out in the manner in which they did.

Don't think that I don't (or even won't) support Richards if he comes to New York. Brad Richards is one of the best centers in the game right now. This will not be the typical Glen Sather signing where we blow our load on guys who won't produce in NY (Gomez, Drury, Redden, Kasper, Holik, yeah you get it), but in my mind this is a guy whose already peaked, and won't be able to play at this high level for the entirety of his contract. Even if he comes in and puts up 80 points in 2 straight years, you think he's going to be doing this when hes 34, 35, 36? I'd truly be amazed.

On the flip side, we really have something going on with this team. Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov get better and better every year, and now with Stepan and hopefully Zuccarello and (barring a likely trade) Krieder, we could have a really solid team here. Prust, Boyle and Avery on the 4th line sounds like a dream if Boyle would stop being such a giant pussy.

We have the best defensive depth in the NHL. It's only a matter of time before we unload some of it to bring in some talent up front. If Krieder refuses to play in NY, which it looks like he may, I'm all for shipping him in a package (say him and Del Zotto or Girardi) to Chicago for Patrick Sharp whose a UFA next season. Sharp-Richards-Gaborik and lock down Sharp before he hits the free agent market, then we will be looking at a real cup contender.

Like I said before, there is every argument in the world you can make for or against signing Brad Richards, and I think no matter what happens on July 1st Ranger fans will have something to smile about.

One last thing to think about: Tomas Fleischmann really seems to be developing into a decent player. If we can't bring in Richards, I'm all for giving him a shot with Stepan or Gaborik.