Thread: Larry Brooks piles on the Rangers

Larry Brooks Slap Shots: Brad Richards of New York Rangers may be target of amnesty buyout if play doesn't improve - NYPOST.com

The numbers tell us Marian Gaborik, carrying a cap hit of $7.5 million through next season, would be a (buy out) candidate, except other essential numbers say No. 10 not only leads the Blueshirts in goals, as usual, but is sixth in the NHL in goal-scoring since he came to the Rangers in 2009-10 (fourth in goals per game).

Richards’ cap hit is $6.67 million per for six more seasons. The cap-recapture penalties on front-loaded contracts such as his mean the Rangers would be punished severely if the 32-year-old pivot were to retire before the end of his deal. A normal course buyout down the road would burden the Rangers with three seasons of between $6 million and $7 million of dead cap space.

So for all intents and purposes, the Rangers will have to declare next summer on Richards. This is one on which they won’t be able to procrastinate, even as particularly painful as such a decision would ultimately be for everyone involved.

I must admit, it's pretty funny to see the pre-season Cup favorites stumble down several flights of stairs coming out of the gate.

It is funny.

Larry Brooks is an idiot. His writing is painful to read.

You don't buy out Richards because he has a bad partial season.

Some teams will never learn that loading up on star players with big money contracts does not guarantee success.