I’ve been meaning to write about the Stars and Devils as the two contenders that nobody has really been talking about (last year almost a year ago to the day,
I wrote about the Stars and Sens in the same context). I’ve decided to hold off on my State of the Franchise posting because today I just had to write about one of my favorite players, Brad Richards and his debut in Dallas.
After the trade on Tuesday and last night’s debut for #91, I think there’s no doubt that everyone has taken notice of the Dallas Stars.
Any time you can add a player with Richards’ resume for two third liners and a backup goalie, it is a no-brainer. Especially when your team is sitting second overall in the league, second overall in goal scoring and that player is under contract for three more seasons.
In case you’ve forgotten how good Brad Richards is (and you missed the game last night), let me remind you...
He’s one of the great clutch players in the league...
* One of six active Conn Smythe Winners
* Leading Scorer in 2004 playoffs (12 goals, 26 pts in 23 games)
* Set record with 7 Game Winning Goals in one playoff year
* Memorial Cup MVP in 2000
* Member of World Cup Winning Team in 2004
* Led Canada in scoring at the 2006 Olympics
* Last two years in the Playoffs: 6 goals, 16 points in 11 games
He’s probably the most durable player in hockey and is a workhorse...
* Has missed TWO games in seven seasons
* Played more minutes per game than any forward and all Lightning players in 2004 Cup run
* 24+ minutes per games during the playoffs over the past two seasons
* Second in total ice time among forwards in 2005-06 and Mins/GP
* Second in total ice time among forwards in 2006-07 and Mins/GP
* Second in total ice time among forwards this season and Mins/GP
Locked up through his prime years until age 31 – 3 more seasons at $7.8 mil.
Compare that to:
Gomez (6 more years @ $7.373 mil - until he’s 35)
Drury (4 more years @ $7.050 mil – until he’s 36)
Richards’ goal scoring has been consistent over the last four years:
2003-04: 26 goals
2005-06: 23 goals
2006-07: 25 goals
2007-08: 24 goals (on pace for)
Since signing his big deal however, Richards’ assist totals have fallen off:
2003-04: 53 assists
2005-06: 68 assists
2006-07: 45 assists
2007-08: 44 assists (on pace for, not including last night)
You have to think that the primary reason for this is that he’s been playing with guys who simply cannot put the puck in the net on a consistent basis:
Michel Ouellet – 9 G, 23 PTS
Jan Hlavac – 9 G, 22 PTS
Jason Ward – 7 G, 13 PTS
Mathieu Darche – 5 G, 13 PTS
Between the four of them they have a total of one 20+ goal season and that was back in 2000-01 before Hlavac fell off the map.
In 2003-04 aside from ‘The Big Three’ the Lightning also had Stillman, Modin, Andreychuk and Fedotenko who totaled 92 goals.
In 2005-06, Prospal, Modin and Fedotenko put up 82 goals.
In 2006-07 the Lightning did not have a forward hit 15 goals, outside of ‘The Big Three’.
This season only Prospal has more than ten goals.
There is no player in the league who is worth $7.8 million playing with Hlavac and Ward. The Lightning’s lack of skill on Brad’s wings is the reason why Richards’ numbers have fallen off.
Last night, playing with talented players Richards put on a fantastic show – here are the game notes from the Stars:
* Brad Richards made his Dallas Stars debut tonight, earning 5 assists (0-5-5 pts) with a +2 rating.
* He became just the third player in franchise history (the first since coming to Dallas) to earn 5 assists in one game (also Murray Oliver in 1971 at LA and Larry Murphy in 1989 @ NY Islanders). Richards is the first forward to earn 5 assists in one game in franchise history.
1. Richards became the first Star to earn 5 points in a game since Mike Modano (1-4-5 pts) on 2/10/02 at Anaheim.
2. It was the second 5-assist game this season in the NHL (also Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf at Tampa Bay on Dec. 13, 2007).
3. Richards set new personal career-highs in assists (was 3, many times), and points (was 4, twice).
4. He centered a line with Niklas Hagman (hat trick) and Antti Miettinen (2 assists), logging 19:16 of ice time.
Now that he’s out of Lecavalier’s shadow the hockey world will remember that Brad Richards is an absolute star.
And now that Richards is a Star, Boucher is back and Zubov should be ready for the playoffs, this team is good – scary good.
Stanley Cup good.
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For those who missed it last night, here are some of the great responses I received on the state of your franchises...
State of the Blue Jackets (by Rob in Ohio)
Hockey is a business, let's not forget that. General managers aren't fan-
pleasers, they are businessmen.
The trade deadline activity of the Blue Jackets followed a concise business
plan. Once GM Scott Howson realized he wasn't going to land Brad Richards, he
went on to Plan B, in his words "managing our assets." Translation: sell.
Sergei Fedorov brought a decent return, a solid prospect who will be a good
player in a few years. Adam Foote brought a first-round pick (albeit
conditional), but nonetheless a surprising return for the 37-year old.
It may not have been a popular choice at the deadline, but Howson has
stockpiled multiple first-round picks in this year's draft and mid-round picks
in 2009. In addition, the Blue Jackets will have around $17 million to spend
come July 1.
Yes, it's a rather weak free agent market, but any GM would be foolish not to
listen to an offer consisting of first-round picks, especially this year.
Let the games begin.
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State of the Bruins (by Chris in Townsend, MA)
Here are my thoughts on the Bruins. I think they're well situated
currently to make the playoffs, but doubt they'll get past the first
round. That all depends on who they're matched up against. As Gerry
says, if it's a team in red jerseys, we're doomed. :-) As long as they
don't melt down over the next 20 games, they'll be in good shape. We
still need a true scoring winger to play on Savard's line, but I'm
glad Chiarelli didn't give up any of the young talent we have. Keeping
Kessell was a smart move. He's young, he's starting to learn how to
play with the big boys, and I think he'll be a scoring machine once he
puts it all together. There aren't many who can skate like Phil when
he turns on the jets. My only wish is that he'd keep the jets going
when he backchecks. He bends over and puts his head down, but his legs
aren't doing much. I'm not fooled. He also needs to work on picking
the corners a little better when he shoots, and building more upper
body strength, but he's still young.
We have a good core of youngsters and some great leaders, starting
in net with Tim Thomas. With Cam Neely mentoring Lucic, we're bringing
back team toughness. Milan seems to be the smartest and most patient
player on the ice on many nights, and he's tough as nails. He also
doesn't take stupid penalties. Aaron Ward gives us some additional
veteran leadership and Cup experience. Chara has been shaky at times
this season, but he's vastly improved over last season, and back to
true captain form. Axelsson continues to be our best defensive forward
and should be considered for the Selke award.
All in all, we have decent balance throughout the roster, but not
much to get too excited about. I was hoping Chiarelli would go hard
after Tanguay, who I think would be a perfect fit with Savard, but I'm
happy he didn't give away anyone valuable or take on a huge contract.
We'll see how things go for the rest of the season and into the
playoffs, then we'll know what we need to add in the off season. The
future is bright in Boston for the first time in a long time.
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State of the Canadiens (by Marc-Philippe)
Here are my thoughts on the Montreal Canadiens. Right now, this team is a great position to make the playoffs and they have a shot winning the division. The roster is one of the youngest in the league and kids have stepped up to take huge roles on the team. It has been a terrific and unexpected season. What is the playoff outlook for the Habs? It's so tough to predict because the team is so young. And that is probably why Gainey made the Huet trade, placed his faith in Price and didn't give up Higgins in order to land Hossa. It's just not quite our time yet, this year is about giving our young stars their first experience in the post-season.
The Habs have been one of the league's top offences this year. We have 7 40 point guys, which is best in the NHL. The power play is amazing, led by the criminally underated Andrei Markov. The offence has been carried by the A. Kostitsyn- Plekanec- Kovalev line, while the Koivu line has been wildly inconsistent but seems to be coming together recently. Sergei Kostitsyn has been a great surprise. The hope is Mikhail Grabovski, who ripped apart the AHL the last couple of weeks, can help form a 3rd scoring line with players like Ryder, Latendresse or Streit. We have plenty of 4th line depth too.
The team may have the best top 3 on defence in the East in Markov, Komisarek and Hamrlik. They all bring different things, but they are all very solid defensively. The Bouillon-Gorges pairing has been a wicked 3rd unit and big Ryan O'Byrne is learning on the fly with Hamrlik.
All eyes will be on the Price-Halak duo down the stretch. Price has played fairly well since being called up and now that this is HIS team, I expect he will get into his WJC/AHL playoffs form. There will be growing pains, but he has shown flashes of brilliance.
Our cap situation is also amazing, due to the amount of young quality players we have. The Habs could have over 10 million in cap space this summer and a small shopping list. We will have even more cap space the following summer. Gainey has all kinds of ammunition to land his desired ''impact forward''. A talented young team, good veterans, lots of prospects and cap space. The Habs are back!
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State of the Predators (by David in Hendersonville, TN)
now the predators. regarding the trade deadline. i'd be lying if i didnt say i was a little dissappointed. hope for( based off eklund) jason williams. i did agree not to give away the farm so i wasnt surprised. to begin the year i would have been thrilled to be "in the hunt" for the playoffs considering our loss of players prior to the season, but considering what other teams did and how we have played for the last week or two im not too optimistic about this years playoffs.i fear i had fallen into the trap of unrealistic hopes for a few weeks while we were playing well. heres my biggest concern. ... we have the same defensive corp( less kimmo, add devries) as last year and mason was every bit vokoun's equal last season yet we have been poor at best in our zone way too much of the year. i dont know why and have even less of an idea how we fix it. will mason be the man next year? as for the draft/free agency we have lots of picks and have plenty of cap room. i wonder what we will spend.
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State of the Rangers (by Tim in NJ)
The 2007-08 Rangers are a team stuck between the ‘win now’ and ‘build a winner’ philosophies. With the looming unrestricted free agency of Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, and Marek Malik (ok, just kidding), questions have arisen over the team’s offseason options and future makeup. And while these are major concerns, the Rangers have shrugged them off and are currently playing their best hockey of the season. Whether or not their consistency continues will remain to be seen, but if Lundqvist is at the top of his game, this team will be tough to knock off in the spring.
The prospect development process has gone well. Recent graduates Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have made significant contributions on the blue line.
Up front, Brandon Dubinsky has emerged as a top centerman, Nigel Dawes has picked up his defensive game to go along with his scoring touch, and Ryan Callahan has raised the intensity of his game in both the hitting and scoring columns.
It’s a great time to watch this team, but Rangers fans need to be patient. The Rangers aren’t quite a ‘win-now’ team. However, the recent successes of the rebuilding process are encouraging and should make for a very exciting next 5 years.
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State of the Leafs (Alex from Mississauga)
Every year and in every sport, there will be losers and bottom feeders. But it's quite rare to see a team completely fall apart as spectacularly as the Toronto Maple Leafs. That is, unless you're a Knicks fan (but that's for another day).
Overloaded with mostly poor players, signed for even worse contracts, the Leafs have yielded the control of their franchise for the next few years to the now infamous "Fab Five" of Sundin, McCabe, Kaberle, Kubina, and Tucker. This rag tag collection of veterans have combined for nearly half of Toronto's 50 million dollar cap, and currently comprise 5 of the team's 7 oldest players. In short, the future, both immediate and near, doesn't appear very promising.
With desperate times came desperate measures, as MLSE turned to its old war horse, the Silver Fox himself, for another franchise-altering miracle of the variety he pulled with the Clark/Sundin trade. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to hand him the reigns, as Mats Sundin and Co. had decided to emphatically tie himself to the helm and go down with the sinking ship.Thus, the trade deadline came to represent a perfect microcosm of the Leafs last 40 years: despite plenty of hype and perhaps unrealistically high expectations, they came up well short once again.
Now that the dust has settled on the trade deadline, the Leafs now find themselves in the same position as the Americans had some 60 years ago. At Pearl Harbour, the Americans were surprised by what should have been an expected foe, and got hit right between the eyes. Now that Cliff Fletcher has all but declared war on the "Fab Five", the Leafs, like the U.S citizens some years ago, must place all of their faith and trust in an old, silver-haired veteran to get the job done.
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State of the Flyers (by Bob, Rapidan VA)
Organization:
The Flyers are in a great place right now as a franchise. They are
loaded with young talent that is building together. The fans are happy
with the team after the quick turnaround from last season. Currently
they are exactly where every Flyers fan hoped they would be this year,
in a battle for the playoffs. They are really poised for a deep run
next season.
Forwards:
The missing element in the Flyers is the ability to generate
consistent offense within the offensive zone. They can score off the
rush and the powerplay but are lacking the "half-court offense"
ability. This is why teams like the Devils, Rangers, Lightning, and
Canadians beat them regularly. These teams all eliminate the rush.
Players such as Richards, Lupul, Downie, and Hartnell are capable of
this offensive zone pressure. But they are young and the goals off the
rush are sexier. They also need to get rid of the guys like Dowd,
Cote, Boulerice, etc. There is no place in this speed game for guys
like this.
Defense:
The defense is young except Hatcher and Timonen. Hatcher is probably
done after this season. With Coburn, Parent, Kuukonen, and Jones they
are pretty deep with young mobile players. They need one more shut-
down kind of guy to be a steady defense. They also must learn to make
the simple play out of the zone. Just a soft flip off the glass or
over the blue line are needed to make this unit good. They just need
ice time.
Goalies:
Biron and Nittymaki set the Flyers up for the next few seasons. Both
are good team guys and both can carry the team for long periods.
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State of the Islanders (by Sauce)
It now stands only a couple of short years since the end of the pathetic tenure of one of the worst GMs in the history of the game. It’s still less than a decade since the franchise had ownership that is currently incarcerated or should be incarcerated. It’s against this backdrop that I can report with a sense of relief the following… Ladies and gentlemen, the state of the Islander franchise good, and moving in the right direction.
Garth Snow is delicately walking the fine line between putting an entertaining product on the ice today, while making sure the salary structure is flexible enough to nurture young prospects among a stable of seasoned, character-filled veterans. His success thus far has been helped considerably by one of the great motivating coaches in the game today.
The Islanders have a 26 year old top ten goalie signed for $4.5 million for the next 13 years. And there’s no doubt that his mind-set is tailor made for playoff hockey, like that of Tiger Woods in the final round of a major. This kid is made for the limelight.
The most difficult challenge facing this team right now… Getting the notoriously corrupt and inept Town of Hempstead to approve the Lighthouse development project to bring the Islander home up to state-of-the-art.
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State of the Stars (by dstars)
Stars Looking to Expand, Hope to Hold Off Supernova For a Few More Years
by dstars, AP hockey correspondent
DALLAS - With the acquisition of Brad Richards, the Dallas Stars have gained a player that can not only help them in the hunt for a Stanley Cup this season, but for years to come as well. The biggest change brought on by the Richards deal is that the window for the Stars to win a Cup has been extended by at least two more seasons. Richards’ contract will push the Stars near the brink of the salary cap next season, but with the core of the team (Turco, Morrow, Ribeiro, Zubov, Modano, etc) already signed on, the Stars can expect to be one of the top contenders in the Western Conference for at least the next several years.
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State of the Canadiens (by Habfan2010)
Ever since the team brought in Bob Gainey and the underrated Trevor Timmins, they have continued to build through the draft.
While building one of the deepest prospect pools in the entire league, they have built a team that plays a solid system game.
Led by the coaching staff including Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, and Doug Jarvis..They continue to strive solid defensive play. The habs continue to put one of the most exciting products on the ice. With the future looking very bright, the current is actually just as promising.
Boasting the most 40+ point producers in the entire league, shows the scoring depth the team has built. The core of this team is in their low to mid 20's. The future looks promising with depth at every position, including Carey Price and Jaro Halak in Goal, the likes of Markov, Komisarek, Gorges, Mcdonagh, Valentenko, o'byrne and Emelin...Higgins, Plekanec, the
kostitsyn brothers and solid role players in max lapierre, kyle chipchura.
The future looks bright for Les Habitants, but some may say the present is just as bright.
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State of the Flyers (by Jsaquella)
Flyers after the deadline:
First of all, they are a bubble playoff team, which is what they were expected to be. With all the key injuries, and the rough ten game losing streak, it's a testament to the resiliency and coaching of John Stevens and his staff. The Flyers only made some minor tweaks at the deadline, sticking to their plan of competing now and contending soon.
The key now is to get injured guys like Joffrey Lupul, Mike Richards and Derian Hatcher back to the ice. Adding those players to the current line-up, the Flyers could be a very tough first round opponent in the east.
Moving forward, they need to get extensions done for Jeff Carter and RJ Umberger. It'd be nice to add another decent two way defenseman over the summer, but Paul Holmgren has done an excellent job, and should have himself well positioned to address the team's needs for the future.
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State of the Avalanche (by Hermaximus)
Deadline deals started a day early for the Avalanche with the signing of Peter Forsberg for the remainder of the season.
This was followed up with solidifying the defensive corp. with the acquisition of Salei for a 3rd rounder and Skrastins. This was a good acquisition. The team took on a little more salary (approx. $600K) but provided a more physical, minute eating defensive defenseman, for a d-man that had fallen out of favour since setting the iron man record last season.
The second trade was for Adam Foote, for a 1st in either '08 or '09 and most likely a 4th (working under the assumption that Adam re-signs). which again was a defensive defenseman that eats a lot of minutes.
Over the last few seasons the Avs have not had a problem with moving the puck from the defence to the offence (Liles, Clark, Leopold, Cuminsky). The bigger issue has always been the defensive prowess of corp. Which the acquisition of Foote and Salei help to solidify. It also added a major physical presence, and should make forwards a little more scared to go into the corners and behind the net.
Overall, the Avalanche made significant changes to the roster, but the key was familiarity. Yes Foote and Forsberg are not the players they were in the late '90's or mid 2000's, but they are comfortable with the city, with many of the players still on the roster, and with the Coach, having won the cup with Q in 1996. And this is always a mjor concern when making acquisitions at the deadline, is how they will fit in to the team. These acquisitions didn't have to worry about that because they had already been a part of the team in the past, as well as being part of the systems in place.
The Avalanche went from a bubble team, to a playoff team with the acquisitions. Currently, there is no way of saying that they are a contending team just yet. We need to see what Forsberg does when he finally gets to play, and whether his addition will help the horrible power play; but as it sits right now. They are in the playoffs, and only 3 points back of the divisional lead.
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State of the Sabres (By In Miller we Trust)
Honestly, we're looking a bit like a rebuilding team. No one needs me to repeat what happened the past offseason. With Numminen's future uncertain, the Sabres are cutting loose from the teams that went to the ECF the past two years. Darcy is looking to youth: Roy, Miller, Vanek, Pominville, Stafford, MacArthur, Goose, and Paille are joined by Bernier to form a young team indeed. Still, because the players were in place, already, it won't be too painful.
The two biggest questions are defense and contracts. A number of contracts run out after next year, notably Miller and Pominville. Both will merit pay raises. Still, enough of our players will be RFAs to help us avoid losing much with no return. Defensively, we have some prospects, but right now its mostly prospects. Sekera may be NHL ready. Paetsch has to show now whether he's NHL material. Weber isn't ready yet, but shows promise. Pratt and Kalinin can walk at the end of this season, though I think at least one, if not both, re-sign.
Breaking ties with Rochester is both troubling an exciting. It means a farm team considerably further away, but it also means having more prospects, possibly guys like Gerbe and Kennedy, in the system earlier. It may also allow European prospects like Enroth and Persson to come over.
All that out of the way, the Sabres still can compete for the playoffs this year. The defense is questionable. Lydman and Tallinder can be very good, but this year they haven't been consistent. Kalinin has been plagued by inconsistancy, but recently he's been looking up, and changing D partners to play with Spacek may effect, for better or worse. Offensively the Sabres are more than capable. Vanek has come into his role recently. Bernier looks like a power forward who shores up one of our weaknesses. Roy and TC bring a lot on the skill and puckhandling side. Pominville is an absolute gem. MacArthur has shown potential this year, and should continue to contribute. Goose and Paille both do their jobs well, and can step into larger roles in place of injured players. Stafford, Max, and Hecht are out, but all can contribute while healthy. Miller is solid in net.
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And the last word goes to...
State of the Leafs (by Unholy_Goalie)
We suck now, but not bad enough to get anything good out of it so it means we're going to suck moving forward too.
Stay tuned for my team-by-team thoughts and have a great Friday...
Danny -
[email protected]
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