Brad Richards signs 1-year, $3 million contract with Red Wings

Brad Richards has signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

Brad Richards has signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. (USATSI)

For the second year in a row Brad Richards has accepted a one-year contract on the first day of the free agent signing period. After winning the Stanley Cup a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, Richards is moving on to the Detroit Red Wings, signing a one-year, $3 million contract with the team. 

The deal also includes bonuses that could potentially make the it worth $4 million. The Hockey News' Ken Campbell reports that Richards gets an additional $250,000 if the Red Wings win a first round playoff series and another $750,000 if they move beyond the second round. 

At 35 he's clearly not the player he was during his peak, or even four years when he signed a massive long-term contract with the New York Rangers, but he showed this past season that he still has a little something left in tank and proved to be a useful player for the Blackhawks in a second-line role, scoring 12 goals to go with 25 assists in 76 games. But with the Blackhawks adding centers Artem Anisimov and Marko Dano in Tuesday's Brandon Saad trade, combined with their current salary cap crunch, it was clear that Richards was going to be back on the move this summer. 

Richards will pretty much replace Stephen Weiss on the Red Wings' roster after the remainder of his contract was bought out this week.

Weiss' buyout saves the Red Wings around $3 million in cap space this season. 

Richards' signing is the second major move of the day for the Red Wings which came just an hour after they finalized a deal for defenseman Mike Green who signed a three-year, $18 million contract.