I do think we’re in agreement on a big key area - he wasn’t used properly this year. You and I both were vocal whenever Richardson got a chance to play with Sakic, played well, and then moved down to make way for Wolski.

you’ve got an excellent rebuttal.

…and you know the guy who’s going to disagree!

Ok, if you put Richardson on the same plate with Joe Sakic on the grading curve then you can justify a C+ grade (That makes Parker a J- but that’s another story). But Richardson got delt a big pile of crap this year. The coaches did him absolutely no favors and it’s a testimate to his character that he carved a niche as a defensive forward.

Look, Richardson came out of the OHL as an offensively gifted forward. This is a kid that as a 3rd, then 2nd liner in the OHL dropped 67 points. He then broke his leg and still played 15 games at a point per game clip. His final year he was three short of 100 points. His whole MO going in to the NHL was a quick, offensively gifted forward. Let me point out that he played with absolutely no one of note on his lines with the Owen Sound. He was the focus. Furthermore, this isn’t the WHL or the QJHML. It’s the most defensively minded league in the CHL. Anyway, the kid has gifts offensively.

He finished the year +4. He played with guys that, um don’t score. No really, they don’t score at all. Yet, he still dropped 22pts. He averaged only 10 minutes of even strength play.

As far as his defensive play is concerned, I can’t disagree more here. He was great on the defensive end. His PK time and even strength +/- (with no scoring mind you) bear that out. He got pushed around in the corners, I agree but he was agressive on the puck and took shifts out of the scoring areas. Often times, his even strength shifts consisted of killing time so the first line could shift out.

His assist numbers do suck, but frankly speaking even if he placed it on a plate in front of Roman Turek, who of his linemates is going to score it? His numbers in the OHL and AHL show a 50/50 split on assists to goals and he can set up teammates. His speed, skill set and talent are wasted in the roll he was given.