Japers’ Rink Player Card (click for a hi-res version, and a glossary of terms used in this post can be found here; data via NHL.com, war-on-ice.com, General Fanager and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):
Richards’ Season, Game-by-Game (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Richards’ HERO Chart (via Own The Puck):
Richards and His Linemates:
Richards’ 5v5 Teammates and Competition (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Richards’ 5v5 Usage:
Richards’ With-or-Without You (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Richards’ Rolling Shot-Attempt (Corsi) -For Percentage:
Richards’ Last Nine Seasons (via Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):
Key Stat: Richards logged just over 27 minutes of shorthanded ice time during the postseason (or a little under a third of the team’s entire penalty kill), which was the second-highest total among Caps’ forwards.
Interesting Stat: 2015-16 marked the first playoff run of Richards’s career in which he failed to score a single point; he had hit double digits in five of his nine trips to the postseason (including the last three seasons with LA).
The Good: Not particularly known for his possession skills (at least not in recent years), Richards did see his even-strength possession numbers dip a bit, but those previous deceptively strong raw stats were largely a product of playing for a possession juggernaut in LA. In his 39 games with the Caps, Richards posted a relative Corsi-For percentage of -0.1, a vast improvement over the numbers he’d posted while with the Kings, and his best since leaving Philadelphia (in a somewhat different role, of course). Considering that includes his “ramp-up” time after missing more than half a season of hockey and how he was deployed, that’s not bad.
Richards also put in some solid work in the face-off circle, winning at least 50% of his draws in 21 of 39 regular-season games and finishing the season just shy of 50% overall (50.9% while shorthanded).
His biggest contribution was on the penalty kill, where he provided the team with another option on what was already a pretty solid shorthanded group. Richards logged a ton of ice time on the penalty kill after his mid-January arrival, and his TOI/60 of 2.22 led the team during the regular season. He took that to another level in the playoffs, too, as he was on for just two of the four power-play goals the team gave up in 12 postseason games (43 power-play opportunities total).
The Bad: No one expected Richards to step into the lineup and put up big points, particularly given how his offense has dropped off over the last few years, but five points in 39 games (with none in the playoffs) isn’t ideal, even for a third- or fourth-line guy. In fact, this year he posted his lowest assists- and points-per-60 rates in the last nine seasons; granted, some of that was likely a product of limited minutes overall, the adjustment to NHL speed after joining the team halfway through the campaign, and a rotation of linemates who were hardly offensive dynamos in their own right.
The Video:
The Vote: Rate Richards below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.
The Discussion: After a half-season and a bargain contract, would you want the Caps to try and re-sign Richards this summer? How much would you be willing to give him (money and term)? Did you expect more from him offensively or do you think he provided value beyond the offense? What would it take for you to give him a “10” next year?