Richards Struggling Mightily

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It’s no secret that when the Rangers were thinking of upgrading their offense in the off season, their first priority was to add the offensive-minded free agent forward Brad Richards. After an explosive start to the season for the Blueshirts, however, Richards has all bust lost his way.

The ordinary fan would like to think that Richards is just going through a mini-slump, but the reality of the situation is that Brad’s success in New York thus far, has been mediocre at best.

More often than not has Richards looked confused on the ice; made errant passes; or been positionally inept. He was brought in here to be the Rangers’ set-up guy, the guy with world class playmaking abilities. And while his 34 points through 51 games doesn’t seem terrible to even the most semi-passionate fan, it’s not great by any means for a player of his caliber and a player that was brought in to New York riding a hefty price tag.

His lack of confidence on the ice and poor decisions with the puck for a majority of the season is definitely a cause for concern. His struggles are obviously rearing their ugly heads as he has only been able to muster up two points over the last ten games. And now, it seems as though his problems are starting to infect his mentality like the plague. There hasn’t been a game in the past ten matchups where Richards didn’t look even the slightest bit anxious.

Richards was also brought in to help a power play that has been, let’s face it, atrocious for years now. Believe it or not, somehow, the power play is actually getting worse as the season progresses. You wouldn’t think it based on their great winning percentage and their current top seed in the Eastern Conference, but the Rangers are one of the league’s bottom dwellers when it comes to power play conversion rate, thanks in large part to their premier off-season acquisition that was brought in to improve their special teams.

Over the last 13 games, the Rangers are one for their last 34 chances on the power play – an absolutely abysmal statistic.

According to the NY Post, the Rangers admit Richards is struggling, though. In fact, Richards admits it himself.

“I’m a little lost offensively, obviously,” Richards said after yesterday’s practice. “[A] defensive game is the way they want to play here and I’m adapting to that, but I’ve got to free myself up offensively, for sure.”

This isn’t something you’d typically like to hear from a guy who signed a contract that pays him close to $60 million over the next eight plus years.

Head Coach, John Tortorella, is also well aware of the slump Richards is going through.

“He’ll find his way,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella is confident Richards will break out of his prolonged struggles – no doubt. But if Richards is going to re-discover his offensive touch, it’s hard to imagine it will happen on the Rangers’ fourth line – a line that Richards has recently been relegated to. If anything, this demotion will simply compound his struggles and most likely damage his psyche.

But Tortorella and Richards obviously have a long-standing relationship that goes back to their days with the Tampa Bay Lightning. So here’s to hoping that if anyone can light a fire under Richards, aside from Richards himself, of course, it’s his coach.

The fact of the matter is that Richards needs to be an offensive leader on this team. Otherwise, he’ll turn into yet another high-priced free agent that underperforms in New York. There is no denying Richards has talent. In fact, compared to other Rangers big name free agent signing failures in the past, Richards arguably has the most potential to do good things in New York.

But if this team wants to go deep in to the playoffs, they need Richards to dramatically step up his game. Marian Gaborik can only carry the offensive load for so long. Fortunately, the Rangers’ scoring has been diversified quite well this year. But they need their star players to be playing at a much higher level.

If Rangers team didn’t have the best record in the Eastern Conference, as well as one of the best records in the NHL, Richards would be getting killed by the New York media and fan base right now.

Ultimately, Richards needs to be playing at a much higher level right now. There is no question about it.

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