Alain Vigneault likely to be next Ranger head coach

[MXHockey]

It was obvious that Richards was behind fitness wise through the season and in the playoffs. The fact he is an average skater to begin with really puts more emphasis on the need for fitness.

With the lockout hanging over everyone, I guess Richards decided to say eff it, and maybe thought the whole year was done, so didn't bother working out like he should have been.

No excuse though, he's paid 7m/year, there is no excuse at all to come into camp like that regardless of the lock-out or any other reason.



My take - If he shows up in shape, he'll have a very good chance of putting up solid numbers again. The AV hiring re-opens my last forward keeper debate:


Richards vs Krejci vs Parenteau? (Points only keeper, and keeping 2 of these 3)

[lucifer316]

Richards vs Krejci vs Parenteau? (Points only keeper, and keeping 2 of these 3)

for me until richards shows something different he is a 60-65 player at best which is what the others probably are so i would go with them given the age

this thing with richards isnt an ovechkin in the prime of his career not giving a shit thing

richards is getting older and getting slower his career trajectory at this point is looking eerily similar to that of marcus naslund

it think that he might be able to hold steady for 1 season with a change of scenery if he goes to another team

but he is not a 90 point player anymore no matter what anyone tries to tell you

[hockeymanG23]

in 12-13 richards led all of the rangers regular forwards in offensive zone starts with 63.4% and in 11-12 he was only behind gaborik and stepan in offensive zone starts

the guy admitted he showed up out of shape for the season and no matter how much icetime or offensive zone starts he got he didnt produce

I wasn't aware of either of these points. Showing up out of shape never helps, getting his ass to the trainer over the summer could make a big difference despite his zone starts not being likely to improve.

who knows maybe if he gets bought out and goes into a situation where he isnt paid so much money and the expectation isnt there for him to be a top line player he might level off his downward trend

but he took a huge contract and then couldnt live up to it and mentally he broke

It has happened with many other athletes before, Gomez, Bryz, Redden, etc.

everyone keeps ignoring that the team around him continued to perform while he declined

This is certainly true, the team as a whole did great while he struggled. Conditioning might turn that around, maybe he needs to get some focus back. I guess we'll find out next year if this is the trend or if he can bounce back because up until now his career has fluctuated scoring wise though some highs and lows, though never as low as this past season.

[MXHockey]

for me until richards shows something different he is a 60-65 player at best which is what the others probably are so i would go with them given the age

this thing with richards isnt an ovechkin in the prime of his career not giving a shit thing

richards is getting older and getting slower his career trajectory at this point is looking eerily similar to that of marcus naslund

it think that he might be able to hold steady for 1 season with a change of scenery if he goes to another team

but he is not a 90 point player anymore no matter what anyone tries to tell you

I think you just got removed for the Brad Richards family Christmas card list, but all good points above.

Cheers.

[lucifer316]

another thing to keep in mind about richards production last season is that nearly 1/3 of it came in the last 6 games of the season

he had 11 points in those 6 games so his season was actually going much worse and if not for those games his numbers would have been really really bad

a few of the players obviously had a fair number of points in those games as they lit up a bunch of bottom feeding teams while making a push for the playoffs after finally acquiring the depth they were desperately missing all season long

many of his points in those last games could have been him going along for the ride on a very hot team and being the beneficiary of his teammates play

if that is the case he might have trouble even holding at 60-65 next season

[MJ Flex]

Changing it up a bit. Does this move help MDZ if he stays?

[lucifer316]

Changing it up a bit. Does this move help MDZ if he stays?

that is a difficult one to be honest with you

i see his numbers as a function of usage to be honest i think if you used mcdonagh the way mdz is used mcdonagh could easily exceed mdzs numbers hell even girardi could equal his numbers if he was used the same way

the rangers PP was a joke last season (well more than just last season) but even at that john moore the couple of times he was given the chance showed a greater ability to run that joke than mdz has ever shown

at some point they are going to run into a situation where mdz asks for a contract that is nowhere near what he has shown development wise and i expect the rangers to try to find a way to move him before that happens

personally i see mdz as a dime a dozen type offensive defenseman his defensive skills are marginal at best and his offense would take a huge hit if he went to a team with a real offensive defenseman

his numbers are inflated by the fact that he is used as the rangers primary offensive defenseman and even then they arent exactly elite numbers they are just good to very good

[MXHockey]

Overall, I like this move by NYR.

Wouldn't it be something if they won the Cup next year, 20 years after beating the Canucks.

[Username]

No excuse though, he's paid 7m/year, there is no excuse at all to come into camp like that regardless of the lock-out or any other reason.

http://capgeek.com/player/690

Richards actually made 12m last season (= second highest paid player in the league after Weber). The real AAV of his contract is 9.5m.

[JagrBomb]

i'm curious to see if vigneault gives nash the oppurtunity to be the star everyone though he could be.

can we finally see an 80 point season?

[Loch]

I think this could be interesting... I'm really not sure if it's good interesting or bad interesting though.

As someone noted, AV likes his two-way guys.

He also doesn't much love the young guys, especially at crunch time, ie: anyone remember Hodgson in the 2011 finals or Schroeder in this years sweep?

He also really likes line juggling so unless you have a twin brother expect to see a new face every shift if things aren't going well.

As for MDZ? He may want to be careful since Vigneault is likely dragging along the dog house he used to house Ballard for the last few years.

[Axeman33]

https://twitter.com/JSportsnet/statu...31946547748864

"Confirming that Alain Vigneault gets 10 million over 5 years as coach of NYR.Told that was same offer that Dallas had on table for AV."

Wow, 5 year deal. I guess they are confident he is the long term answer there to lead these players.