Philadelphia Flyers trade Captain Mike Richards to Los Angeles Kings in Sudden Move –NHL Update
Everyone knew that Philadelphia Flyers had acquired one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) top goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, easily through the desperate Phoenix Coyotes, but no would have ever thought that it would trade its captain, Mike Richards, to make
space for him.
In a surprising move on Thursday, general manager of Philadelphia Flyers, Paul Holmgren, announced that Flyers traded Mike Richards to Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn, along with a second-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
The trade is certainly not enough for a player like Richards, but the motive behind the move is certainly of bigger intentions.
Flyers needed to make room in its salary cap in order to accommodate veteran goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, and that is how they did it.
Holmgren blamed it on Flyers' performance during the past playoffs, and the need to immediately improve it.
"I wish I could tell you" Holmgren said when asked about specifics of the trade. "When you underachieve as a team there is a lot of fingers getting pointed. I didn't have a problem with them pointing at me, I was more unhappy with the way it ended and being
out of the playoffs".
It was certainly a trade befitting for a king and that is what happened.
Los Angeles Kings could probably have not even dreamt of such a deal happening, and acquiring Richards will certainly give Kings a much needed offensive boost.
"We felt at this stage of the franchise it was time to make a significant move for an impact player", Kings' general manager, Dean Lombardi, said. "Mike Richards is not only one of the top players in the league, he's also universally recognized as one of
the finer leaders in the game and one of its elite competitors”.
Along with LA’s top performer, Anze Kopitar, Richards will provide Kings with a huge power boost in the offensive end.
It already has one of the best goalies in the league, thus, adding a player who had 66 points in the past season including 23 goals and 43 assists, is not a bad deal at all.
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