Brad Richards to be healthy scratch for Rangers in elimination game
The New York Rangers have their backs against the wall, and Brad Richards will be a healthy scratch in Game 4 on Thursday night.
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The New York Rangers will take to the ice on Thursday night in an elimination game against the Boston Bruins. Their second-highest paid skater won't be joining them.
Brad Richards, who has had a very disappointing postseason so much so to the point that he had been demoted to the fourth line, has been demoted again. He will be a healthy scratch for Game 4, coach John Tortorella electing to keep Richards in the press box instead of glued to the bench.
This is as clear a sign yet that Richards and the Rangers likely aren't going to be seeing that massive contract all the way to the end. He is signed through the 2019-20 season for a cap hit of $6.67 million, but he has been so underwhelming this season that talk of an amnesty buyout had already begun. Since he's getting scratched in the playoffs, you have to assume it's only a formality that he'll be bought out as soon as possible.
It's not like this benching is something that isn't deserved. Richards has been bad this entire season, especially for what the expectations are of him. It has gotten even worse in the playoffs.
In 10 postseason games, he has just one goal to show for his 14:43 ice time per game and a diminishing role. The Rangers' struggles on the power play are partuly connected to Richards, who is supposed to be the main point man on the man advantage. I think we all know how well that has been working.
Just to underscore that it has been bad all around, not just in terms of producing points, Adam Gretz noted that at 5-on-5 with Richards on the ice this postseason, the Rangers have been outshot by a whopping 77-40 margin. You can probably tell that's not good, and that's putting it mildly. It's easy to see why he won't be suiting up.
Still, in nine seasons playing under Tortorella for the Rangers and previously Tampa Bay, this is the first time that Richards has been a healthy scratch. Again, it comes in an elimination game in the playoffs, for the 2004 Conn Smythe winner.
"I'm surprised, I guess. I'm disappointed," Richards said. "Nothing is over. Work harder and try my best to never let it happen again."
If the Rangers were to win Game 4 and take the series back to Boston, it might be hard for Tortorella to justify putting Richards back in the lineup. In other words, we very well could have seen Richards' last game as a member of the Rangers.
