Yet as their deadline approached for signing Brad Richards last spring, the Tampa Bay Lightning remained unconvinced he was worth the kind of dollars he was seeking. In fact the organization's internal debate became so intense, general manager Rick Dudley felt the only way to settle it was to put the youngster to the test.

Brad Richards is the NHL's leading rookie scorer.(Allsport)

"We wanted to be very, very sure on this one because they were asking for a lot of money," Dudley told SportsLine.com about the picked in the third round of the 1998 draft. "If we were going to step up to the plate, I had to have no doubt in my mind whatsoever."

Dudley answered the questions by taking a trip to a Memorial Cup game where he made sure the youngster knew his potential future boss was there and checking him out in a pressure-packed situation. The six-foot-one, 198-pound center from Prince Edward Island responded by scoring five points in a game his team won 6-4. They went on to win the title and Richards was named the playoff MVP.

"It became apparent that he does things on the ice that normal hockey players don't do and it was pretty much after that game I decided that we cannot let this player go," said Dudley, who would have watched Richards re-enter the draft had he not secured his name on a contract by June 1. "When you have that kind of asset, you hang on to it."

Richards, who signed a three-year deal that pays him $975,000 this season, has repaid the faith Dudley had in him by playing at a level that makes him one of the leading contenders for the rookie of the year award. As the league approached its All-Star break, the 20-year-old center was the top scorer among all first-year players, netting 14 goals and 26 assists in 52 games, while impressing observers around the league with his poise and his ability to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

"In our wildest dreams, we couldn't have hoped for the contribution he's made," Dudley said.

Richards, who was named the NHL Rookie of the Month in October, allowed that his first season has been better than he might have expected, but insisted that his is keeping things in perspective.

"I'm learning every day and I'll keep learning," he said. "I've been fortunate enough to have an organization that believes in me."

One reason is that Richards has a pretty influential supporter in childhood friend Vincent Lecavalier, who just happens to be Tampa Bay's franchise player. The duo met during their high school days in Saskatchewan and continued developing a sibling-like bond as teammates on the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

When he was chosen first overall in 1998 by Tampa Bay, Lecavalier convinced his new team to take Richards along for the ride.

"He's got just an unbelievable amount of talent," Lecavalier said.

The Lightning took Lecavalier's word for it initially, but began to have second thoughts once they saw him struggle in his first training camp two years ago. Dudley admitted he began wondering whether those who said Richards was merely hanging on to Lecavalier's coattails were correct.

"We had some pretty serious doubts about him," Dudley said.

Richards got the message, and went back to the junior ranks knowing he had to establish himself in his own right.

"I couldn't help the things that people were saying about me, the only thing I could do was go out and try to do well," Richards said. "But I think the (training camp) experience helped learn a lot about what it would take to make it to the next level."

That became apparent on the ice. Returning to Rimouski for the 1998-99 season, Richards scored 39 goals and 131 points in 59 games, and then followed it up last year with 71 goals and 186 points in 63 games, before adding another 37 points in 12 playoff games to lead his team to the league title and win the Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year award.

That enabled him to to come into camp this season confident he could take the next step.

"You never know for sure, but in my head, I thought if I played well I could make the team," Richards said. "The thing is you can never take things for granted. I'm just excited to be here and I just want to make the most of it."