I don’t think that he intended to come off the way he did, but the general consensus among those who listened to Flyers captain Mike Richards after Saturday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins was that he was making excuses for the team’s loss. He acknowledged that taking too many penalties was killing their opportunities, but he also called out the Penguins for diving: “It’s tough when you play Pittsburgh, you know that they’re going to be falling down pretty easy. You gotta watch your stick.”
Whether that’s true or not, Richards needs to hold the entire team accountable, himself included. As a captain, he has historically been much less of the talkative type and more of a lead-by-example type. The problem that he’s running into now, though, is that he’s in a situation where his abilities are being limited by the players surrounding him. The team has four centers worthy for the top three lines, and none of them are as good at wing as they are at center.
It’s difficult to tell at this point if Richards and linemate Jeff Carter are actually developing on-ice chemistry since the season is only five games in. Richards and Carter are -2 and -3, respectively, and of the two goals scored between them (both Carter’s), one came off a shorthanded tally.
Dan Carcillo started the season on the top line, but was struggling to meet expectations. He was scratched in the tilt against Pittsburgh in favor of Andreas Nodl, but Nodl saw minimal ice-time. As a result, Richards and Carter played with Nodl, Danny Briere, James Van Riemsdyk, and others throughout the game. The merry-go-round has hindered Richards from gaining any semblance of stability on the ice.
With the time that the team has available this week before Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, coach Peter Laviolette is expected to play around with his lines in practice. The Scott Hartnell-Danny Briere-Ville Leino line may be broken up to see if they can individually improve the others on the team, including Richards and Carter.
Should the accountability problems facing the Flyers this early continue throughout the season, the team may want to consider giving the captaincy to forward Danny Briere. I’m sure this will come off as “hitting the panic button” to many, but the quotes he gave to Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly are really what Richards should be saying to the media:
“You got to do what you got to do and it’s [penalties] got to stop… It’s been happening since Game 1. We got a point in St. Louis, but we took too many penalties there. The last four games we have been taking too many penalties… We put ourselves in trouble. Our power play to penalty kill ratio is lopsided and we have to do something about it. It cost us the last game against Pittsburgh. I think [a bag skate] needs to be done.”
Briere was the leading goal-scorer in the 2010 playoffs and currently leads the Flyers with 4 goals.
Sorry bro, your hockey writing skills are sub-par. You sound like one of those guys that thinks he understands the game but you don’t. Danny Briere is a great player and a great goal scorer; this doesn’t qualify him for the captain.
What your article should have pointed out is that Carcillo has no place on the top 3 lines of any decent hockey team. Richards and Carter would be better off with just the 2 of them instead of this unskilled goon.