Last night, the Flyers continued their shocking playoff run by winning the Eastern Conference Finals. With a chance to win at home and avoid a potential messy game 6 back in Montreal, Mike Richards singlehandedly won the game with a shorthanded goal and two assists.
Like the Flyers the last few years, Richards is a bit of enigma. On one hand, he plays incredibly hard, checks players much bigger than his size, and is a great penalty killer who has led the league in short handed goals.
On the other hand, he's clearly a scumbag, apparently goes out so much that the Flyers felt compelled to trade some of his teammates/drinking buddies, had a pointless fight of the media this year, and led a divided locker room that helped get a coach fired and led to a generally underachieving regular season.
There's also his bizarrely long 12 year, $69 million contract that he signed in 2007, at the height of the fiscal restraint after the lockout. Perhaps the Flyers wanted to him to be Bobby Clarke a bit too much. Perhaps he was made captain a bit too early when the team tried to turn the corner after the 2007 disaster. Whatever. Just win four more games, Mike, and you can narrate the highlight film wearing a beer dispensing helmet with hookers on each arm.
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