[The_Future]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

No one could forsee the Richards fall off? That was a major discussion point for the media and fans this past summer. A few examples

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/co...s-this-summer/

http://www.thescore.com/news/518948

http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/20...-mike-richards

Again the Voynov situation is kind of moot. It is exactly the same situation as if any cap team had an injured player.

Again Richards could have provided the cap flexibility to deal with Voynov or even a hypotheical Kopitar injury. Lombardi had the opportunity to give his club that flexibility he didn't do it.

You can claim forever and ever about how big of a mistake it was to not buy him out. You won't change my mind. Lombardi doesn't look like a fool to me, and he isn't an idiot. He is dealing with his problem now, and in my books thats what any GM should do. It's easy to call him a fool now, but hindsight is 20/20.

I wish our team had just won 2 Stanley Cups in 3 years. Richards' resume speaks for itself. I would never fault a GM for not throwing him away, especially with the recent success the team has had. Getting rid of a player because on analysts say you should is a sure fire way to lose your coaching job. He obviously met with Richards, and Sutter and made his decision based on that. You don't plan to lose players for a whole season. His team just won a Stanley Cup. You don't fix things that aren't broken. Again they obviously felt he served a purpose. Now their need is larger than that purpose.

I guess we will agree to disagree on this one, but I would kill for our previous GMs, basically since 1989 to now, to be as big of fools as you say Lombardi is today.