We may be two games deep into the Stanley Cup Final – with the Calder Cup also in full swing – but the wounds of last season as a Vancouver Canucks fan are still relatively fresh. There’s plenty of meat left on these bones and with just less than a month before reinforcements are brought in via the draft and free agency, it’s time we got cookin’. 

The process starts with a series of player-by-player reviews for the season that was. Today’s will be centered on the Canucks’ third-line pivot, Brad Richardson. 

Let’s break down the season that was, on the other side of the jump.

Richardson has always been a sneakily divisive force. While the generally accepted assessment of Richardson is that he’s an ace penalty killer with plus shutdown ability at evens, there is a growing minority that think his defensive acumen is greatly overstated and his offensively value is (conversely) drastically understated. 

I think there’s a middle ground to be found here – neither side is necessarily wrong. A cursory glance at Richardson’s hextally chart reveals that, while at even strength, the Canucks actually fare considerably better with Richardson off the ice, then on – both in terms Shots Against rates and the location from where they are taken. This is more or less reflected in Richardson’s Scoring Chance Against data, which has him trailing only Luca Sbisa and Zack Kassian for SCA/60mins among Canucks regulars. 

By that same token, there is something to be said for the ability of coaches to observe and play their pieces based on what they perceive as their strengths and weakness – coaches are relatively good at evaluating player strengths. It is telling – to some extent – that two different coaching staffs, in consecutive years, saw fit to give Richardson heavy defensive responsibility and key minutes on the penalty kill; although one can’t but help and wonder if this is just based on Richardson’s historically good face-off ability.

Equally telling is that Darryl Sutter saw fit to offer Richardson permanent residency in his dog house during their last season together with the Los Angeles Kings. 

Shifting gears, Richardson took a significant step forward offensively this season – contrary to my long-held belief that his stick is where offense goes to die. While Richardson is no great facilitator of offense, he’s developed a knack for finding his way into passing lanes as an outlet for his linemates and always seems to be buzzing the net – very winger-like, frankly. 

In a more prescribed role as a tertiary scoring piece, Richardson would in all likelihood thrive offensively – all things being relative. His traditionally plus level face-off ability (although, he was well below 50% this season) will always make him a valued commodity in the defensive zone to coaches, but beyond that Richardson has proven himself a liability in nearly every sense on the wrong side of his blue line at even-strength.

Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that Richardson provided the Canucks amazing value at a cap hit of just $1.15-million this season. 

With 21-points in his just 45-games played this season, Richardson was well on pace to shatter previous career highs in goals, assists and points. Hell, he was just six-points off the mark of his previous career high as-is. 

When one takes into account the extent to which the back-nine of Richardson’s season was hampered by a nagging foot injury, these numbers seem all the more flattering. With better healthy it seems entirely plausible that Richardson could have very well kept pace with Nick Bonino in scoring. 

Unsurprisingly, the Canucks fared better in territorial play without Richardson than with – you can’t see it, but David Booth and Kassian are both nodding approvingly. Unsurprisingly, the damage is done with his CA/60, where Richardson was the sixth worst Canucks player, lagging behind defensive “stalwarts” like Sbisa and Kevin Bieksa.

When the puzzle pieces are put together, it reveals that the Canucks were playing some of their highest event hockey with Richardson on the ice. For better or worse, all the things were happening with Richardson present.

The scoring chance data is more or less in line with what one might expect at this point. As with Richardson’s Corsi statistics, there is noted spike in the rate of SC/60, driven largely by those directed at his own net. By that same token, only Bonino and Chris Higgins were on the ice for a higher rate of scoring chances for at even strength. 

When adjusted to just include scoring chances of the “high-danger” variety, the numbers shine much more favourably on Richardson. By this metric, the Canucks actually fare marginally better with Richardson than without. If, by some stretch, Richardson provides any value defensively, it could very well be in the extent to which ten-bell chances against are limited by his presence. 

While Richardson may provide some upside in limiting the opposition’s shot-quality, he certainly doesn’t hamper volume. Only five Canucks regulars fared worse in this regard, and that list includes Bo Horvat (a rookie) and (you guessed it) Sbisa. Also of note: there is a profound decline in Richardson’s standing among the Canucks where SF/60 is concerned, relative to some of the other underlying metrics at our disposal. 

Richardson’s WOWY numbers can be found here.

This isn’t necessarily news, but among the players Richardson was most regularly played with, the chief beneficiary from a territorial standpoint was always Richardson – without exception. Looking strictly at goals though, Richardson’s and his primary linemates cooked offensively when paired together. Goals can be largely transient and percentage driven though and I think the bad taste left with by the territorial anchor that Richardson proved to be vastly outweighs any positives one might try to glean from the GF% listed above.

Not an awful lot to glean from here. Frankly, I considered leaving out the power play commentary entirely. In total, Richardson suited up for just over six-minutes of power play time this season. That 10.3 P/60 is mighty impressive, though. 

The penalty kill has long been Richardson’s calling card. Again, though, as one delves deeper into the numbers, it becomes questionable whether this is a role he’s well-suited for. His shot and attempt rates against were good, but less so than many of his teammates, and he allowed scoring chances more frequently than every other regular Canucks penalty killer. 

By every underlying metric available, the Canucks were hampered by Richardson’s presence – whether by goals, shots, scoring chances, or even high-danger chances. It can’t be ignored however that the story War-on-Ice tells is a little different that HockeyAnalysis’, which paints a glowing review of Richardson while a man short. It’s possible that Richardson’s penalty kill numbers were torpedoed to an extent by seeing reps while down 3-on-5 that other Canucks didn’t, and playing against top powerplay units for most of the year.

Foot injury aside, 2014-15 could have been an excellent season for Richardson – all things being relative, but it was a good one for the third-line pivot all the same. Unfortunately for the Canucks though, it’s likely the last they see of Richardson as a good guy. As an unrestricted free agent in what appears to be a weak pool from which to pick, B-Rich is set to get paid; quite handsomely relative to his talents, one might imagine. With the Canucks in salary cap hell, I just can’t foresee any set of circumstances that allows for a return to Vancouver for Richardson.

That said…

In the immortal words of Kevin Garnett, “anything is possible.”