I Know, I'm On The Unpopular Side Of This Trade

When I was in college, a history professor once told me that "one has to wait fifty years to study any event in a historical context", the purpose of this being that the fifty-year mark gives time for generational biases and prejudices to fall along the wayside in order for events to be viewed with a little more clarity.

I think that idea is very applicable to the Stars' current situation. I'm far from suggesting we wait fifty years to see how the Brad Richards trade has truly affected the Stars, but I feel a little more time's in order to appropriately view what kind of player Brad Richards could potentially be for this team.

In the past few weeks, while the team has steadily been determined to take a nose-dive straight into a hole they dug themselves, I've watched Stars fans interact on the internet with a lot of interest in regards to the Richards trade. What I'm seeing leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The prevalent idea seems to be that Brad Richards just sucks and wasn't worth it, which I find a little odd, considering he's only been here for what, a month-ish? Aren't we throwing this guy under the bus a little early?

I'll be the first to stand up and admit that the trade was never what I wanted. I would've been happy for the Stars to make no trades, and I don't think it pained anyone more than me, save for Jen, to see Jussi Jokinen in a Tampa Bay uniform. Jokinen, Smith and Halpern were strong guys on and off the ice and were obviously well-meshed with the rest of the team. I have to say, though, I see little point in looking backwards to see what could have been instead of looking at what we've got and seeing what could be.

I don't think it's this trade mucking with their heads to be quite honest with you; perhaps at the start, but not now.

Turco is finally getting past whatever mental block he's had. I don't subscribe to the belief that Turco needs a strong back-up competing for a starter position in order to play well; I think Turco's been mourning the loss of a player with who he had emotionally connected. Smith lived with Turco for a while, after all, and Turco likened the trade of Smith as losing a brother. That's a heavy thing to suffer, no doubt, but he seems to be bouncing back. I think if anyone was affected heavily by the trade, it was Marty Turco.

As far as the rest of the team goes, none of them have been playing like they were in February. I refuse to make excuses for this team or listen to excuses any longer. While I don't doubt that the trade has something to do with their disappointing losing streak, I don't think it's wholly to blame for the Stars' problems.

They've lost complete focus and sight of their goals. Why, I don't know. I have a feeling that it's not solely the trade. That's a weak excuse on the best of days. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that playing a schedule like the March schedule has been set up is difficult, not as an excuse, but as a solid fact. Zubov and Boucher being out for long periods of time has not helped, but we won in February without them. We won all season with combinations of injuries to Lehtinen, Zubov, Jokinen and Boucher. The team just looked lifeless; not all of a sudden but like someone was letting the air out of a balloon, slowly but surely.

And somehow, this is Brad Richards' fault.

I fail to see the logic in that belief.

I don't see how Richards himself can be responsible for the bad play of an entire team. I hold this entire team accountable, and yes, I do mean the entire team, for every loss they've sustained during the month of March. Some of these losses, they lost through sheer faulty judgment and others, they just didn't bother to show up to play. It was a slap in the face to every fan; I'm on the verge of being a little offended at what's coming out of the mouths of people in the organization regarding the bad play of late, because it was downright horrible to watch as a fan.

And yet, this is somehow attributable to Brad Richards, where we can dump all the blame at his doorstep? Or, to some, that Richards just hasn't come in and performed up to snuff immediately, so therefore, he's useless and is dragging the team down with his dead weight?

The pattern I see among fans is that when a player is signed, most notably a player who has performed well on another team, the fans expect instantaneous results from said player. It does not always work that way because you have to give people time to settle in. As I've said above, Dallas is a marked change in almost every single aspect from what Richards is used to in Tampa Bay. I personally know that I do not perform the best when I start a brand new job, because it takes time and a little patience to learn your role and acclimate to a new environment. Unreasonable expectations, in my opinion, will only yield severe disappointment.

I'm not making excuses for Richards, either; I do believe his play should have been better than it has been. On the other hand, though, I don't feel it's very fair to point the finger at Richards for not producing and leave others out of it.
I've seen the argument arise many, many places that Richards is a handicap to us salary-wise. $7.8 million a year is a lot of money. I'm not arguing that it was a good choice, but I will make the argument that if I were cutting paychecks right now based on what these guys were earning from their play, no one would be getting paid what they actually are making. We pay Mike Ribeiro $5.25 million a year, and I'm not seeing very many people get torn up over his drop in production.

What I dislike the most is seeing a guy who, talent-wise, is a very good player and has a lot of potential for this team being raked over the coals because he's an easy target for people to scapegoat. When this team is down, he's a perfect target, because he's new and he's not scoring a goal a game. I watched this guy get two assists and a shootout goal in the last game and even then, people aren't satisfied with that kind of performance in the slightest.

It's easier to point the finger at Brad Richards and blame him because fans don't know him, not like they do the Ribeiros and Hagmans and Lehtinens on this team. It's easier to take the guy you don't know and blame him for the ills of a team that just gave up in the middle of the road than to take a hard look at the guys who have become favorites over the years and admit, hey, they're not playing as well as they should be. That's what leaves me scratching my head and also a little sad about the situation at hand, because making Richards take the blame (or even pointing out every little negative about the man) for what is a fundamental breakdown in the entire team is a pretty harsh verdict to level against someone who's been with the team a little over a month.

I'm not here to make anyone agree with me, or to change minds that were long ago made up. I'm here offering another point of view on the situation, that's all.

No one wants to hear this, because everyone wishes this season would be the season that the Stanley Cup returns to Dallas. I must admit, I had meager hopes for this season, as all I hoped for was more than just the first round of playoffs. If this entire team continues to play like this, they will get slaughtered in the playoffs. No ifs, ands or buts. If you take stupid penalties, can't cover your assignments, consistently turn over the puck in the neutral and defensive zones, and give up two goal leads, your team is probably not going to win the Stanley Cup. Look, it sounds terrible, but in my opinion, it's perfectly realistic. Do the Stars have the talent to go win the Cup? Absolutely, in my view. Do they have the will and the drive? It's questionable at this point.

Even if they improve at this point, I don't know how much better they can do in the playoffs than history has shown. The nasty truth is that it might actually take a season for Richards to reach his full potential with this team, and you know what? That's okay. That's okay with me, because everything in this guy's history says he can do that. I'd rather be patient and see the results than to throw a fit over a lack of instananeous results. Maybe he won't do what he's done before. Maybe he won't be what our GMs and our guys in the front office thought he could be.

But you know what? The guy deserves a chance. A real, honest chance from the fans to be part of this team and not just some convenient whipping boy for the anger people feel at the current standings. He deserves a chance that's not just from a handful of games in a crap month where the other members of the team aren't pulling their weight before everyone decides that Richards should be first against the wall.

He deserves a fair shot at being a member of this team, just like every other player. The sad thing is, once the Stars exit the playoff runs, there will be people screaming for Richards to be run out of town on a rail.

Somehow, that seems distinctly not right to me.