Darryl Belfry, skills coach of: Crosby, P. Kane, Duchene, MacKinnon, Tavares, Backlund, Okposo, Pacioretty, Skinner, Parise, Ladd, etc. weighs in on Richards:
Mike Richards was never an NHL calibre skater, but he made up for it with ridiculous anticipation skills and feel for the game - feel meaning, getting in the flow and rhythm of the game. The biggest limitation to not being an NHL calibre skater, is when your game (reliant upon anticipation/feel/flow and rhythm) is out of rhythm - by all of a sudden playing bottom 6 minutes. The things you relied upon to drive your offense are now disconnected. Mike Richards hasn't played bottom 6 minutes in his career. He has always played top 6 minutes, so I can just imagine how awful he feels after sitting for long stretches - he can't get the timing of his game. A recent example of this was Brad Richards in NYR, when Torts had him in the bottom 6 he also became disconnected with the anticipation/feel/flow and rhythm that drives his offensive timing and reads. Now in Chicago, he plays, not necessarily top 6 minutes, but consistent minutes - he was able to salvage his career. Sadly, Mike Richards is better off in the AHL, because until someone gives him top 6 minutes - he will never recapture his game.
This is the trouble when you aren't and NHL calibre skater, your game doesn't really decline as much as it falls off a cliff. Everyone can speculate on his training, his off-ice lifestyle and alike, which are all contributing factors I'm sure - but the skating is what's killed him. Mike Modano and gifted skaters like him could redefine their career playing a multitude of different roles and minutes without losing all ability to contribute - because the skating was always there - they could always get there to make a play. Richards can't get there - and all his other tools that help him thrive/survive are stripped away with the diminishing minutes.
Sad to see such a gifted mind become reduced to this.
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