John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
So I’m sure you have all heard the news that New York Rangers forward Brad Richards is officially staying a Ranger for at least one more year. With his gaudy seven years remaining at a $6.67 million cap hit per season on his current contract, most people thought for sure Richards was going to be bought out this summer. Rumor has it, however, that most likely the Rangers organization will give him one more year, and if he does not play to his contract then the team is prepared to use the compliance buyout on Richards after next season.
Anyone who watched the Rangers last year saw a tremendous drop off in Richards’ overall game, in which it looked like he aged 10 years from the previous season, where he recorded 11 goals and 23 assists in 46 games and did not even play in the Rangers’ final two playoff games, before they were eliminated, due to him being a healthy scratch.
At this point in Richards’ career with his insane contract he is without a doubt un-tradeable, so if anyone thinks the Rangers can trade him at the trade deadline for this upcoming season is just lying to themselves. No other NHL franchise would take on that contract and a lot of them could not even afford Richards if they wanted to. And right now outside of maybe Vancouver, I would say no one else is even remotely interested.
So what do I think about this move? Well, I will hold back any judgement until I see what he can do next season. I mean, he can’t be much worse than last year unless Richards’ has caught the Jason Bay disease that’s been floating around New York somewhere.
