Brad Richards: Will NHL Free Agency's Hottest Commodity Live Up to the Hype?

After one of the wildest first days of free agency in NHL history, it seems that the biggest star on the market has found his home.

NHL.com is reporting that former Dallas Stars center Brad Richards has signed a nine-year, $60 million dollar contract with the New York Rangers.

The Rangers were the winner of Richards’ sweepstakes that included several teams making presentations to the free agent in his agent’s offices for the better part of Friday.

While New York wasn’t one of the teams that attended the meeting, executive chairman of Madison Square Garden James Dolan spoke to Richards personally.

Dolan has been known to throw his money around, and it appears the Rangers and Richards were the benefactors from his latest free-agency splash.

After a subpar season, the Rangers are looking to add Richards’ offensive prowess in hopes of both alleviating pressure on fellow star Marian Gaborik, allowing him more space to operate.

Richards had 77 points in 72 games last season with the Stars, but his season was interrupted by a concussion that cost him serious point momentum. At the time of his injury, he was in the top five for scoring and showed no signs of slowing down.

Before his stint with the Dallas Stars, Richards had a run with the Tamp Bay Lightning, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2004.

With all of his experience and talent, the Rangers felt that the team had no other choice but to give him anything he wanted to join New York.

Now that they have won the battle in bringing him into the organization, will the Rangers regret this long-term signing and will Richards live up to the billing?

In what was one of the worst free-agent classes in a long time, Richards' worth was blown way out of proportion, and New York will realize that soon enough.

Brad Richards is a solid center that is a top-line guy on a weak team but a second-line guy on a strong offensive team. For the Rangers, Richards will be the top-line center and the point output will not meet the position or the money next season.

This will turn out to be a very bad signing that will plague them in the long haul like the Chris Drury signing did. This upcoming season will be a disappointment for Rangers fans, and they will be calling for his trade by the end of 2012.

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