Richards Lights Up the Big Apple

The biggest fish openly available on the market when the clock ticked Noon ET on Friday has now been landed and Brad Richards will play under the bright lights of Broadway after signing with the Rangers.

Richards signed a 9-year deal, reportedly worth $58.5 million, which works out to be a $6.5 million cap hit per season, but the salary figures are thought to be very front-loaded, so he should be making most of his money right away.

Richards had a pretty good season in Dallas in 2011, playing in 72 games (missing 10 due to a concussion), scoring 28 gaols and adding 49 assists for 77 points, averaging better than a point per game.  Richards finished 24th in pool scoring, 10th among all forwards, which could translate into being a 1st round pick in next season's hockey pool draft.

The impact on the scoresheet may even be greater than just himself, as the Rangers now have a pure playmaking centre that can play with Marian Gaborik, who is a natural goal scorer, so if chemistry comes quickly in New York, this could be a formidable pairing.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Brad Richards	Dan Girardi	Henrik Lundqvist
Marian Gaborik	Marc Staal	Martin Biron
Derek Stepan	Michael Del Zotto
Wojtek Wolski	Ryan McDonagh
Brandon Prust
Erik Christensen
Ruslan Fedotenko
Sean Avery
Mats Zuccarello
Mike Rupp

The Rangers did hand a good chunk of their cap space away in this deal today, but they are not doing too bad against the ceiling just yet.  Right now, I have them sitting with 10 forwards, four defensemen, two goalies and a buyout for $48.1 million, leaving them $16.2 million for six players.  Unfortunately for the Rangers, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle are all restricted free agents and will be looking for new deals as well.  I would have to think some rights are going to be dealt or some offer sheets will be signed, because I don't think the Rangers can handle all four of them on this remaining budget.

Richards may get paid a boatload in the first few years of his deal, but in terms of a cap hit for the duration of his deal, his $6.5 million hit is only tied for 29th in the league for high hits.