The Rangers on Friday announced they they will not be using their final buyout this summer and one of their two remaining compliance buyouts in total, when factoring in next year, on Brad Richards.
I think I made my view on whether or not the Rangers should buy out Richards perfectly clear in
this blog. But if it wasn't, here is the last paragraph again:
"If this was the pre-current CBA, I could see the Rangers taking a chance and bringing Richards back for one more year to see if he has anything left. Richards is still a respected veteran and clubhouse leader and if he is amnestied, the prevailing view among many will be how the Rangers bought themselves out of another bad contract with little regard for the person and the player. However, the old CBA was then and this is now. Plus, the new NHL leaves little room for perceptions to dictate policy and actions, The risk of injury and possible retirement prior to the end of the contract, which would leave the Rangers in cap hell to 2020, make buying out Richards an almost no-brainier, even though I do think he does have a little bit left in the tank. Is that worth $6.67 million a year, no, and that's the view the Rangers have to take when evaluating the situation"
The decision has been made, now comes the fun part, the after-effect and clean up:
1)
The Roster. Vincent Lecavalier, forget about it. Ryane Clowe, very unlikely. Open cap space after re-signing their own RFAs, especially McDonagh and Stepan, keep dreaming. Big name free agent, nope. Possible holes within the lineup, you betcha. By keeping Richards and his $6.67 million in salary, the Rangers, unless their parcel out a higher priced asset, maybe Staal for a pick, will in essence open 2013-14 with the same team that closed the 2012-13 campaign. Maybe JT Miller steps up. Maybe Chris Kreider does become the second coming of any big-time scorer under AV. But in essence, what Sather now has done is put the shackles on himself and the organization with this decision or at worse, forced to make a deal of someone like Stepan or Brassard to clear the logjam at center and get a top-six winger. Maybe he is able to sign Matt Hendricks. Maybe a fourth line winger or another d-man, but major changes will have to come from within as their is no money for an outside one.
2)
Richards' production. There are three possible reasons for keeping him. One is that the team's view is that there is no one better than him in free agency, so better to dance with what you know than what you don't know. The third I will get to below. The second is that they and AV expect Richards to revert back to form. Do I expect him to be better under AV? Yes, though you could argue how could he be any worse. But what has also happened now is that the spotlight and focus will mainly be on Richards all year. First to justify the $9 mil he is getting in salary. Second, to prove that he shouldn't be bought out after next season, which I think is a foregone conclusion regardless of what he does due to the re-capture rules. So even if he does produce, if the Rangers don't make to the Cup and also have a healthy Richards when the year ends, the decision will have another few reasons to be a poor one.
3)
Public Relations. I have seen suggestions that the reason the Rangers kept Richards was due to PR purposes. Mainly, so they don't admit they made a mistake and buyout a popular player, who is good in the clubhouse and who Henrik Lundqvist looks up and respects. In addition, to avoid getting rid of their captain right after firing their coach in interesting circumstances. My view, if that's the case, tell Sather to hand in his building pass and go home. In addition, I don't think that is the case because if so, he could have easily gone with the politically expedient move and hired Mark Messier. Plus, he has shown in the past that he is willing to deal with bad signings as quickly as necessary, seen by trading Scott Gomez, sending Wade Redden down and trading Marian Gaborik for cap room.
The main issue with bringing Richards back is not production, because even if he returns to form, you still are missing the point. The cap hit and re-capture rules in case of injury are why a buyout should have occurred. Sather missed that point and now, the Rangers are stuck. I hope it works out well, but I am not confident it will and it has the potential to be damaging for years to come.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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