How Much Longer Can the Chicago Blackhawks Afford to Rely on Brad Richards?

The decision to sign Brad Richards to a free-agent contract last summer resulted from a weakness on the Chicago Blackhawks roster that has existed for several seasons.

While the Blackhawks have one of the most talented rosters in the NHL and one of the top centers in the league in Jonathan Toews, they have not been getting the consistency or the results from the No. 2 center position that they have wanted.

That was not just a problem in 2013-14. It's a problem that goes back several seasons, and when a team falls short of going to the Stanley Cup Final because it gave up a goal in overtime of the seventh game in the Western Conference Final, it's hard not to play the "what if" game.

What if the Blackhawks had a solid No. 2 center who compared to Jeff Carter of the Los Angeles Kings? Would that have been enough to get past the eventual champions? Would they have won their second Stanley Cup in a row and their third in five years?

It's fairly safe to assume that the Blackhawks would answer "yes" to those questions, which led to their signing of Richards in the offseason.

And why not?

Richards, 34, was a brilliant player who had won awards and been an All-Star earlier in his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars. 

However, he has slowed down the last three years with the New York Rangers, both in terms of on-ice speed and production. The Blackhawks and the rest of the NHL were aware of this, because he had been benched by former Rangers coach John Tortorella in the 2013 playoffs and demoted by current New York coach Alain Vigneault during the 2014 playoffs.

The Blackhawks were not looking for a miracle from Richards. They appear to have a No. 2 center of the future toiling away with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League in Teuvo Teravainen.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press/Associated Press

At some point, Teravainen will join the Blackhawks. It could be later this year, at the start of the 2015-16 season or perhaps in 2016-17. General manager Stan Bowman wants Teravainen to be ready for the job when they bring him up. He does not want to rush his prized prospect.

The idea was that Richards could give them a competent option alongside wingers Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad, thus reducing the pressure on the organization to call up Teravainen.

Richards has not gotten off to a dazzling start with the Blackhawks. He has scored two goals and four assists in his first 13 games in a Blackhawks uniform, and he has a minus-one rating. He also has a plus-23.67 Corsi On rating (ninth on the team), according to Behind The Net.

Richards had not scored until the Blackhawks' 11th game when they went to Toronto on Nov. 1, and he added his second goal in the 5-0 victory over Montreal on Nov. 5.

“I’m not going to anoint myself [and say] that everything is flowing yet,” Richards told Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s still a work in progress, but it’s always nice. When you score and contribute and help the team and go home with a win, you always sleep better at night.”

Despite those two goals, there is not a lot of evidence to suggest the Richards signing is working out the way the Blackhawks had hoped.

Richards has shifted between the Blackhawks' second, third and fourth lines since the start of the season. Head coach Joel Quenneville has not criticized Richards publicly, but it was clear in training camp that he was going to be a noticeable step slower than Kane and Saad.

That made it difficult for Quenneville to feel good about playing Richards between the two, and that opportunity has since been given to the quicker Andrew Shaw. However, that's not an easy call because Shaw does not have the skill to match his quickness.

Richards has been spending a lot of time on the third and fourth lines.

Richards was signed at a bargain price of $2 million during free agency. While he is not taking up a lot of the Blackhawks' salary cap, it doesn't appear that he's going to provide consistent production for Chicago the rest of the season.

The Blackhawks have to consider their options for the pivot on the second line because Richards has not played consistently. Shaw is a hard worker and a hustler, but his skill level does not match his linemates'. The same holds true with the Blackhawks' fourth center, Marcus Kruger.

Mark McNeill may deserve a call-up from Rockford. He has six goals and six assists through 12 games with the IceHogs and a plus-five rating.

While the Blackhawks have salary-cap issues, they could revisit this issue at the trade deadline if they want to make a serious run at their third Stanley Cup of the Toews-Kane-Quenneville era.

Nothing is written in stone in early November, but the long-shot signing of Richards does not appear to be working out.