Predicting Brad Richards’ Impact on the Chicago Blackhawks in 2014-15
By Sean Sarcu
@seansarcu
Getty Images
The Chicago Blackhawks have gone without a second-line center ever since Patrick Sharp stopped playing the position following the 2009-10 season. Given Joel Quenneville‘s affinity for slotting Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on separate lines, Chicago’s best offensive player — Kane — has been left to play with relatively substandard talent for the last several years. With the arrival of Brad Richards, however, that should no longer be a problem.
Richards (34) isn’t the 90-point player that he was with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, but he has retained most of the skills that made him one of the league’s best centers in the past. Always underrated as a playmaker, Richards still has well above average vision on the ice. He is a solid finisher, having scored 20 or more goals in each of his last four full seasons. Kane will do most of the puck handling no matter which line he’s on. His center’s responsibility is to provide attacking support and be in position for Kane to get him the puck. There’s little reason to believe Richards, a well-schooled and smart offensive player, won’t be able to do this.
Due to Nick Leddy‘s status on the roster being in flux and the fact that the young defenseman has never been a Quenneville favorite to begin with, Richards has already been granted a spot on the left point on Chicago’s second power play unit. He has made it clear that he plans on being aggressive and thinking “shot first” with the man advantage, which should prove a boon for a Blackhawks power play that has been nonsensically passive and predictable for almost half a decade.
At just $2 million for the year, Stan Bowman got a great deal here. Richards should fit in well with Kane and Brandon Saad on the second line, and it’s likely he’ll help out a power play that has become a perennial team weakness.
Sean Sarcu is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
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