Bradley Ray Richards, born on May 2, 1980, is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre whose impressive career is marked by skill, leadership, and significant achievements. He was born and raised in Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island.
Brad Richards with the Dallas Stars
Early Years and Junior Hockey
Since age 14, Richards has been friends with Vincent Lecavalier after they met at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, a boarding school with a renowned hockey program in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. They were roommates and soon became good friends as they were both the youngest players on their hockey team. Since then, they went on to become teammates for the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In his final season with Rimouski, Richards won nearly every honour possible for a Canadian junior player in the QMJHL: he earned the Jean Béliveau Trophy after leading the QMJHL with 186 points, as well as the Telus Cup, given to the league's best offensive player; he won the QMJHL and Canadian Hockey League Plus/Minus Awards with a plus-80 mark, and was a First-Team All-Star in both the Quebec circuit and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), as well as the CHL Player of the Year and Leading Scorer.
NHL Draft and Early Career with Tampa Bay Lightning
Richards was drafted in the third round, 64th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, having recorded 82 assists and 115 points in his draft year. During that same draft, the Lightning selected Vincent Lecavalier, Richards' teammate at both the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame and Rimouski, with the first overall pick.
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Stanley Cup Victory and Conn Smythe Trophy
During the 2003-04 NHL season, the Lightning would win their first Stanley Cup, with Richards' contributions during the playoffs earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the postseason, which included a record seven game-winning goals, overtaking Joe Sakic's and Joe Nieuwendyk's record of six.
Brad Richards with the Conn Smythe Trophy
Richards played for Ak Bars Kazan in the Russian Superleague (RSL) during the 2004-05 NHL lockout on a team with fellow NHLers Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Kovalev, Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Nylander, Alexei Zhitnik, Dany Heatley and Nikolai Khabibulin.
Brad Richards Highlight Reel
Trade to Dallas Stars
On February 26, 2008, roughly three hours before the NHL trade deadline, Richards was traded to the Dallas Stars in a blockbuster deal (along with goaltender Johan Holmqvist) in exchange for goaltender Mike Smith, centre Jeff Halpern, winger Jussi Jokinen and a 2009 fourth-round draft pick.
Richards set the Stars' franchise record of most assists in a player's team debut game with five; the record is also a career high for Richards. During the 2008-09 season, Richards tallied 16 goals and 48 points in 55 games before sustaining a broken wrist following a check from Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jakub Voráček on February 16, 2009. Richards met with a specialist the following day and missed 15 games. Richards returned to the Stars' line-up on March 21, but he then broke his other hand in the third period of Dallas' loss to San Jose.
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Despite the new regime and the team's woeful finish in the standings for the second-straight season, Richards enjoyed a career year, matching a personal high with 91 points scored, playing mainly alongside Loui Eriksson and roommate James Neal. Richards finished seventh in the NHL points standings that year, just behind former Lightning teammate Martin St. Louis. He also finished fourth in the NHL in total assists and second in powerplay points. However, the Stars failed to reach 2010 playoffs.
New York Rangers
After becoming an unrestricted free agent, Richards signed a nine-year, $60 million contract with the New York Rangers on July 2, 2011, reuniting him with John Tortorella, his head coach from the 2004 Lightning team that won the Stanley Cup, and another member of that 2004 team, Ruslan Fedotenko.
On October 8, 2011, Richards scored his first goal as a Ranger in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. On March 5, 2014, the Rangers acquired Martin St. Louis, reuniting the two, who were previously teammates when the Lightning won the cup in 2004.
On June 20, 2014, the Rangers used a compliance buyout on the remaining seven years of Richards' contract in an effort to increase salary cap space. This rendered him an unrestricted free agent, and ended the brief reunion between him and St.
Chicago Blackhawks and Second Stanley Cup
The Blackhawks, with Richards, later faced one of his former teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. Chicago would prevail in six games, giving Richards his second Stanley Cup title.
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Brad Richards Stanley Cup
Detroit Red Wings and Retirement
The Red Wings narrowly made the playoffs for the 25th consecutive season. Richards' late-season efforts included a game-tying goal against his former Rangers teammates on March 12 with 32 seconds remaining (the Red Wings later won the game 2-1 in overtime), and a two-point game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 2. He'd finish the season with 10 goals and 18 assists in 68 games.
In the 2016 playoffs, Richards scored one goal as the Red Wings were eliminated in five games by the Lightning in Round 1. On July 20, 2016, Richards announced his retirement from professional hockey. In a statement issued by the National Hockey League Players Association, Richards reflected on his Cup wins: "Winning the Stanley Cups in Tampa Bay and Chicago was the best part of my career and I will never forget those moments.
Post-Retirement
On December 12, 2023, Brad Richards was selected to be a consultant for the St.
Charitable Work and Personal Life
During the off-season, Richards goes back to his birthplace of Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island. Richards has hosted the Brad Richards PEI Celebrity Golf Classic for the past six years. The event supports two charities: Children's Wish Foundation, Prince Edward Island Chapter and Autism Society of Prince Edward Island. He is friends with Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, who spends a lot of time in PEI.
Richards rented a suite at the St. Pete Times Forum (now called the Amalie Arena) for several Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games and invited families dealing with various forms of pediatric cancer to use it. After each game, he would go and visit the children who had come to watch the game. It began during the 2002-03 season and ended in 2008. When he was traded to the Dallas Stars, he continued his charity work with the Children's Medical Center's Oncology Department, supplying tickets for sick children.
Career Statistics
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | Athol Murray College of Notre Dame | SMAAAHL | 30 | 30 | 52 | 82 | - | 26 |
| 1997-98 | Rimouski Océanic | QMJHL | 63 | 33 | 82 | 115 | 49 | 48 |
| 1998-99 | Rimouski Océanic | QMJHL | 66 | 37 | 64 | 101 | 29 | 58 |
| 1999-00 | Rimouski Océanic | QMJHL | 63 | 71 | 115 | 186 | 80 | 74 |
| 2000-01 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 82 | 16 | 46 | 62 | -3 | 38 |
| 2001-02 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 78 | 20 | 42 | 62 | -14 | 30 |
| 2002-03 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 82 | 26 | 52 | 78 | 12 | 34 |
| 2003-04 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 82 | 26 | 53 | 79 | -2 | 34 |
| 2004-05 | Ak Bars Kazan | RSL | 11 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -2 | 8 |
| 2005-06 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 82 | 22 | 69 | 91 | 11 | 42 |
| 2006-07 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 82 | 18 | 51 | 69 | -19 | 36 |
| 2007-08 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 62 | 12 | 36 | 48 | -19 | 28 |
| 2007-08 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 26 | 7 | 17 | 24 | -1 | 12 |
| 2008-09 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 55 | 16 | 32 | 48 | -5 | 16 |
| 2009-10 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 76 | 24 | 67 | 91 | -5 | 30 |
| 2010-11 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 72 | 15 | 49 | 64 | -11 | 28 |
| 2011-12 | New York Rangers | NHL | 82 | 18 | 48 | 66 | 15 | 36 |
| 2012-13 | New York Rangers | NHL | 46 | 11 | 23 | 34 | -5 | 20 |
| 2013-14 | New York Rangers | NHL | 82 | 5 | 20 | 25 | -8 | 24 |
| 2014-15 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 76 | 12 | 25 | 37 | -7 | 16 |
| 2015-16 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 68 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 16 |
| NHL Totals | 1098 | 298 | 634 | 932 | -54 | 478 | ||