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[Waivers] LA Mike Richards


matt1891

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A few misunderstandings in this thread.

First off, cap recapture will not affect whoever picks him up, provided he plays until at least the end of the 2017/18 season. 7, 6, 5.5, and 4.5, divided by 4 equals his current cap hit of 5.75. He's only 29 now, and will still be making 4.5 that year, so I don't see him retiring or anything.

Secondly, again, he's 29. He plays on a team that is extremely deep at center, which puts him in a bottom-6 role, and limits his offensive opportunities. On a lesser team he'd still be a decent 2nd line center. He may not be worth his cap hit for a team that can easily sign free agents, but for a team that has difficulty attracting quality players in free agency, why not?

The waiver order selection goes reverse of current standings. So the teams with the first crack at him are:

Buffalo, Edmonton, Arizona, Carolina, New Jersey, Columbus, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Toronto, Ottawa...

I'll stop there, because I don't think he gets any further. Buffalo will pass so as not to screw up McDavid or Eichel. But if he gets to Ottawa, I think they'll take him.

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or cap hit... don't have to dig deep for dirt to find an answer for why LA doesn't want him.

Too much term and too many dollars for the risk though. LA is going to have to eat some cap hit when/if he clears in order to get him moved.

Ultimately, that is probably what this move was about.

Option 1 - move him for a return of another player(s) with cap hit to offset his salary.

Option 2 - waive him in hopes of clearing his contract off of the books.

Option 3 - eat the max cap hit to move him out for a 7th round pick, or what his then perceived value is (Richards at $2.9 mil for 5 years may have some trade value)

Option 4 - if all else fails, knee cap him

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He was one of the best two-way forwards in Philly and a great leader. Yes, his cap is high. But for teams with a lot of cap room and teams who need to reach cap floor he is great, mostly because of his potential. I say Florida, Colorado, Phoenix, Edmonton, are all suitable fits for him.

Arizona from a roster standpoint maybe, but then they don't have the money to pay him and are starting a rebuild. Florida has a tonne of young, talented centers, as does Colorado, and Edmonton will have soon enough that Richards' 5 years remaining is an issue.

I honestly think he'll clear, barring Mike Milbury getting another GM job before the deadline since I don't even think Edmonton is stupid enough to do it.

Unless there is a personal/disciplinary/lockerroom reasoning from the coach.

Waiving him certainly suggests they'd rather not have him around regardless of cap hit. I'd assume they were willing to take a bunch back to send him away.

Maybe Sutter just wants him gone?

Hard to say without knowing the situation there. We do see it occasionally where a player clears waivers but sticks with the team (didn't Schlemko do that with Arizona this year only to be picked up the second time through waivers?) but it's not that often. then again, it's not that often we see someone of Richards' cap hit go on waivers, so the regular trends probably don't apply.

EDIT: Schlemko was sent down twice after clearing waivers on Nov 14 for a total of 7 days in the AHL. He still spent much of his time with Arizona afterwards though and was put back on waivers after the exemption (30 days cumulative on an NHL roster) expired.

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I doubt there are character issues behind this move. The fact is Richards has had a decent start but has since been downright awful. Not to mention the rest of the team has been rather lackluster as well. This could simply be a message that hits home to the rest of the team as well as Richards to shape up. I believe there was a quote from Sutter to the effect of "There are some players that have not gotten over last season".

This is Mike Richards we're talking about. The only thing that will steer some teams away is his cap hit. Teams that do have the cap space would for sure claim him.

Have you seen him play recently? I am asking a serious question. This isn't Richards from 3 years ago, right now you are getting a player that is a shell of his former self and he is signed for too much and for too long. Just like you are sure he gets claimed I will be shocked if he does. Teams have scouts, they aren't going to pick up a player who has largely been terrible because of reputation or past accolades.

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Wow. The Flyers got, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a 2nd for this guy. :bored:

If the Oilers want to keep tanking, they should pick him up.

LA got two championships with Richards in their lineup so I mean.. I guess it was a high price to pay but they ultimately got what every team (including PHI) covets the most.

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A few misunderstandings in this thread.

First off, cap recapture will not affect whoever picks him up, provided he plays until at least the end of the 2017/18 season. 7, 6, 5.5, and 4.5, divided by 4 equals his current cap hit of 5.75. He's only 29 now, and will still be making 4.5 that year, so I don't see him retiring or anything.

Secondly, again, he's 29. He plays on a team that is extremely deep at center, which puts him in a bottom-6 role, and limits his offensive opportunities. On a lesser team he'd still be a decent 2nd line center. He may not be worth his cap hit for a team that can easily sign free agents, but for a team that has difficulty attracting quality players in free agency, why not?

The waiver order selection goes reverse of current standings. So the teams with the first crack at him are:

Buffalo, Edmonton, Arizona, Carolina, New Jersey, Columbus, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Toronto, Ottawa...

I'll stop there, because I don't think he gets any further. Buffalo will pass so as not to screw up McDavid or Eichel. But if he gets to Ottawa, I think they'll take him.

I cannot see Ottawa being able to afford the contract.

They are a small market Canadian team now bringing in 80 cent Canadian $ and paying $7M U.S.$ to Richards.

Not likely!

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This is Mike Richards we're talking about. The only thing that will steer some teams away is his cap hit. Teams that do have the cap space would for sure claim him.

But as theminister has mentioned, some teams will be steered away by his salary too. $7M this year and $6M next; it isn't until the final 3 years of his deal that the salary is less than the cap hit.

And Richards isn't just a 4th line center right now because LA is so deep. He's also on the 4th (or even a healthy scratch) because the level of his pay has dropped significantly. His minutes have been steadily dropping the past couple years as a result.

LA got two championships with Richards in their lineup so I mean.. I guess it was a high price to pay but they ultimately got what every team (including PHI) covets the most.

Yup, I said as much earlier. Maybe they call that a win (or at least a wash) and move on from the question of if they should have used the buyout.

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the only teams that will be interested are teams that are well below the cap this year and in the near future and on the bubble for the playoffs.

edmonton SHOULD be interested but why would you want to improve at this point in the season and risk a winning and losing a good chance at a top pick the same could be said about BUf and most of the bottom feeders.

sign of the times with cap uncertainty.

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I'm betting $100 on a trade already in the works with another team, with Winnipeg being linked for quite some time (grew up 2 hours away and lives in Kenora in the off-season). However, there was also "rumored talk" that in order for this to happen, LA would have to retain quite a bit of salary. What they're doing is first checking to see if someone would be desperate enough to take him for free in order to rid them of the entire salary. Can't see this happening.

So before they look at retaining salary in a trade, that I believe is already worked out with another team, they are first going to see if someone will pickup for free.

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the only teams that will be interested are teams that are well below the cap this year and in the near future and on the bubble for the playoffs.

edmonton SHOULD be interested but why would you want to improve at this point in the season and risk a winning and losing a good chance at a top pick the same could be said about BUf and most of the bottom feeders.

this lesson has be played out before guys over value themselves and get paid right out of the league. if he was making less there would be no issues staying the NHL. you would hope other players learn from these kind of mistakes.

Wow, the lesson is to take less money than you're worth when you sign the contract in case you inexplicably start to suck?

This is stupid on so many levels

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I'm betting $100 on a trade already in the works with another team, with Winnipeg being linked for quite some time (grew up 2 hours away and lives in Kenora in the off-season). However, there was also "rumored talk" that in order for this to happen, LA would have to retain quite a bit of salary. What they're doing is first checking to see if someone would be desperate enough to take him for free in order to rid them of the entire salary. Can't see this happening.

So before they look at retaining salary in a trade, that I believe is already worked out with another team, they are first going to see if someone will pickup for free.

But if we're talking about Winnipeg, and I'll trust your judgement on this, what salary that they don't want would he sent back to offset it?

Obviously Dean has been working the phones and found no deal that works for him.

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I'm betting $100 on a trade already in the works with another team, with Winnipeg being linked for quite some time (grew up 2 hours away and lives in Kenora in the off-season). However, there was also "rumored talk" that in order for this to happen, LA would have to retain quite a bit of salary. What they're doing is first checking to see if someone would be desperate enough to take him for free in order to rid them of the entire salary. Can't see this happening.

So before they look at retaining salary in a trade, that I believe is already worked out with another team, they are first going to see if someone will pickup for free.

This.

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