fanaticV3.0

He makes too much money and we do have 17 centers, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be thinking about it if I was running the team. Him and Couturier might not set the world on fire offensively, but behind Giroux, that would be two lines that would be hard to play against.

I think he's playing on the third line. As much as I didn't like the "poor little me" act when he was here (especially towards the end), I don't see how his role is diminishing with that team, especially since they were head-over-heels for him during their previous Cup run. Yeah. He's never going to say something like, "Well Mike isn't that important of a player, so that's why he's playing less" EVER let alone during a Cup run.

You really think a coach is going to be honest in the middle of a PO run about a player who's role as decreased? Get a clue.

Richards is and always will be a better defensive player than Carter. And despite the fact that offense if Carter's forte, Richards isn't that much worse off than Carter. Technically he isn't worse off. He's got 466 career points to Carter's 460. http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470617 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470604 If you look at their stats as Kings, it's not like Carter is dropping 70 a year and Richards 30. Their points are close almost every year. The difference is negligible. Based on that, if I had to choose, I pick the better all-around player (Richards). Edit: I know Carter is having a good POs, but that is pretty much the only category he's significantly better than Richards offensively. I will say though that for all those PO points this year, Carter has no GWG.

Sounds like a bunch of PR bullshit. He's playing and producing less. If the coach thought that highly of him, he wouldn't be 14th on the team in ice time right now.

This is exactly my point.

Don't lecture people over crystal balls when you were just polishing your own a few posts back with your "Philly looked good and I didn't like it" stuff.

I think the better question is why do people keep bringing it up? They're been gone for 4 years and we've traded away bigger names. They are nothing special in that sense. People didn't even talk about the Lindros trade to this magnitude for this long. I don't care if they go elsewhere and succeed. Them winning a Cup (and maybe 2) bothers me less than the complaining about it. People are stupid and short-sighted. The only reason this conversation exists is because they won a Cup so soon after leaving, so it people's minds we "blew our chance". It's moronic thinking.

The organIzation saw similar levels of "success" during the Lindros, Leclair, Roenick, Primeau, and Hatcher eras. It's not like they took a dead franchise and made them PO contenders for the first time in years. They are good players, but brought nothing new to the team that others hadn't already done.

I think it was here just last week that somebody mentioned LA doesn't seem to know what to do with him? I saw this over the weekend too: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/28/mike-richards-buyout-candidate/ I know this his offensive numbers have gone down since leaving, but I didn't know how much until I looked. They really have dropped off a lot since his time here. The coach supposedly isn't too high on him, but is he playing that much less? I can't believe how in love with Carter they are. Richards, as much as his personality gets on my nerves, is a good two-way player. That's so much more valuable than a Carter type imo. I know he's making a lot of money, but give me Richards over Carter any day. What's even weirder is they were so high on him during their previous Cup run. One place I heard he might land is Pitts, but it's all just rumors right now.

They contributed greatly here too (when they felt like it), but what did it get us? That's my point. Richards and Carter added to a team that already has the makings of a good young team gets you something. Richards and Carter as the focal point get you what we saw over the course of their career here. LA is a little deeper than Brown and Kopitar. If I was going to say they were riding the coattails of anyone, I'd say it's Quick, Daughty, Brown, and Kopitar. It's a nice foundation and took all the pressure off of Batman and Robin when they landed in LA. They weren't expected to do as much.

I'm not bitter about losing them at all. I don't regret trading the away one bit. What I can't stand is this crying about it. They're gone. They didn't win a Cup here, were given plenty to work with here, and were not going to win a Cup here anytime soon. We didn't trade away a Cup or any of that other nonsense. Get over it (not you, the people who keep bringing it up).

What I'm saying is that they need an NHL ready defenseman and that nobody in the farm system is that. By NHL ready, I don't mean someone who can make a roster. If that's how it came off, sorry. That's not how I meant it. I mean an impact player. If any of them make the team, and it is a perfectly legitimate point to say that it is an if with someone that age and that position, the best you are going to get out of him is 3rd pairing minutes. Kids just don't come out of college or juniors and make that kind of an impact on D. I don't mean to deny a kid a roster spot if he makes it, but that if he does, he's going to be a supporting or possibly even part time player at best. They don't need that. They need a workhorse in all honesty. So if a kid makes the team, that's cool, but they still need someone to replace Timonen and none of the kids are going to do that anytime soon.

I can't stand it when someone starts ranting some nonsense about how "another former Flyer wins the Cup". It's such crap logic. That's not to say the team has never made mistakes and there aren't some guys I would want back, but the notion that the organIzation made a mistake because someone who was traded won a Cup somewhere else is stupidity at it's finest. They did the same stuff here though. RIchards and Carter were always in the top points wise here as well and it didn't amount to a Cup. And for the record, Carter's "2nd in scoring" for LA this year was a grand total of 50 points. He had much better production here. Hell, they both did. Stats wise, they had the best years of their career here. I'm not saying they are bad players, I'm saying they are benefiting from being on a deeper team where they aren't expected to carry the load.

Carter is seriously one of the biggest pansies in sports that I have ever seen. Nobody likes playing for a bad team, but dude was on Columbus for 39 game's for God's sake. You have no right to mope that much after 39 games.Major league p-ssy right there.

When did I say we should deny someone a chance to play if they've proven they can?

You can insert pretty much anyone in the lineup on the third pairing. We've made an art form of it in recent years. I'm not trying to say you will have great results, just that it's not imperative to have great players in your bottom two. Unless you've got some great depth, no supporting player is going to - or should - see 18-20 a night. If you are fortunate enough to be in that position, that's awesome.

I already see it on Facebook and it annoys me there. Richards and Carter were here for 6 seasons. They were given 3 coaches (two of which they complained were too hard on them and one they walked all over), several different versions of a supporting cast, and two of the best defensemen in the modern era (one of which they complained was mean). They also thought the media was too mean to them too, but I digress. The point I'm trying to make is, I don't want to hear any of this "this could have been us" crap. No, it couldn't have. Everyone else around them was traded away or fired. They were given plenty of chances here and couldn't and wouldn't have gotten it done. LA is an ideal spot for them because they walked into a situation where a team already had it's franchise goalie and leadership group. If I hear any complaining about how we traded away the future, I might actually punch you.

Oh sweet baby Jesus, let this happen!!!

What I find a little baffling about their situation is that they just fired their GM and almost the coach (and still might if that's what the new GM wants). The coach and GM didn't cough up a 3-1 series lead, the players did. That's about as big as an on-ice failure as you can get. That has nothing to do with the coach or front office, that's directly on the players.

There is no prospect in their system that will come in and replace anyone as a rookie. Besides the fact that almost never happens with defenseman, they don't even have anyone of that caliber waiting in the wings to begin with. They need an NHL ready defenseman, preferably an impact one, not some kid trying to prove himself. The kids should not be thrust into "must have" roles, they should slide in supporting ones as they are ready for it.

You are one grumpy MFer Rux. I like it. I completely agree with you one 1, 2, and 3. Some see #1 as good sportsmanship, but I have to agree with you it's forced and contrived. Good sportsmanship is doing it when you're not forced to. I hate calamari, but I agree with you. Wasting food like that just bugs the hell out of me. U Penn has one and it is to throw toast onto the football field. I forget all the details, but I think it's every game they do it. They were talking about #3 on WIP a few weeks ago as the Flyers were about to begin the Rangers series. Gargano and Ellis, who do a show together, were split on it. Anyone who still gets excited by this tired ass tradition is beyond sappy. Their lack of Cups in my lifetime bothers me less than how often they talk about "the good old days". It doesn't motivate anyone at all.

I don't understand your point here. They just lost 1 defenseman. They're not revamping the entire blue line.

It's actually 5. 20 in 05-06 26 in 08-09 23 in 09-10 25 in 10-11 20 in 11-12 I don't think he's a failure because like you said he is a complimentary player and not a bad one either. Columbus was stupid if they were expecting him to lead the team anywhere.

What potential? The guy's a role player. I always liked him, and if he was cheaper I wouldn't mind seeing him back here, but he has never shown to be anything that should lead anyone to believe he's anything more than a nice little role player. Anyone expecting anything more from him is seriously overestimating him.