The Washington Capitals agreed to terms with free-agent center Mike Richards on Wednesday to bolster their depth down the middle. This move may affect some of the Capitals young players in the near future.
When the Washington Capitals announced Wednesday that they agreed to terms with Mike Richards, there were hot-takes galore debating whether or not it was a good signing, whether Richards is even a competent NHLer at this point, and how the locker room chemistry may be affected. Regardless of your opinion on those issues, the general consensus is that the signing was low-risk, possibly with a high reward, because it is apparent that the Capitals did their due diligence on this signing. Richards appears to be focused on hockey again and ready to put the past year behind him.
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The largely overlooked aspect of this signing is how it will affect the playing time of several players if this signing does indeed work out. The players that could be affected are some of the team’s younger players in Michael Latta and Stanislav Galiev.
Galiev has not seen much ice time as of late, dressing for the first time in almost a month in Tuesday’s victory over the Boston Bruins. He didn’t record a point, and was -1 in 5:42 of ice time. Galiev had a breakout year in the AHL last year, a season that may have bought him more time with the Washington Capitals organization. However, he has only played in eight games overall for the Caps this year, with Michael Latta and previously Sean Collins and Chandler Stephenson seeing time in the lineup over him. Needless to say, if Richards proves he is a capable bottom-six player still, Galiev can count any kind of ice time in the future goodbye unless he suddenly picks up his game in a big way or there are more injuries in the forward corps beyond Jay Beagle’s injury.
Michael Latta is a bit of an interesting case. Latta has had some good moments this year, and appeared very capable of playing on at least the fourth line. However, after Beagle’s injury, he found himself in the press box in favor of enforcer Zach Sill, who is now suspended for two games. Because Mike Richards isn’t likely to play for at least a few games in a Capitals sweater, Latta will likely be back in the lineup with a chance to prove he belongs to stay once again. The real problem for Latta could come when Jay Beagle is ready to return from injury, and again that is very dependent on Richards’ ability to even play at an NHL-caliber level. There is absolutely no way Beagle will sit for Latta when he returns from injury, so it is really going to be Richards and Latta battling for another spot at that point. And, no, with Richards here, there is really no way that Sill should be on the NHL roster for much longer.
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With all of those points considered, Stan Galiev is really in a precarious position. He signed a two-year extension prior to this season with the hopes that he could build off of last year’s career year. That hasn’t been the case, but the fact that remains is that he is just 23-years-old. There is a logjam ahead of him on the depth chart now and in the future. From a big picture standpoint, this signing really doesn’t change Galiev’s current situation at all, because he hasn’t been playing. Like Latta, he will likely have a couple more auditions while Sill is suspended and Richards is learning the system. He is going to need to stand out.
Now would be a great time to pump the brakes, hard, if you have any high expectations of Richards. While a new-found focus and rejuvenation in his game could (it’s a long-shot) solidify Richards as the 3rd-line center on a scoring line, it is likely fourth line or bust for him. That’s why one of Galiev or Latta, or quite possibly both, will be seriously affected if Richards can stick. Imagine these forward lines heading into the post-season in a best-case scenario (Un-pumping the same brakes for a second):
8-19-77
90-92-14
65-10/83-43
25-83/10-21
As you can see, if everything works out perfectly, there will be no room for Latta or Galiev there. There are a lot of things that a lineup like this would depend on: Andre Burakovsky continuing to find his form, no more significant injuries, and Richards being impressive enough to carve out a spot in the lineup. It would be more upsetting to see Latta lose his spot than Galiev, because I believe Latta’s ceiling is higher than Galiev’s at this point. Latta has proven he deserves a place in the lineup, but truly it is hard to imagine him getting in over anyone in that hypothetical lineup other than Richards or Brooks Laich, which is unlikely because he is one of the main penalty killers for head coach Barry Trotz.
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There are a lot of variables going into this situation. There is absolutely no way of knowing yet how this situation will work out, and it will probably take several weeks for it all to play out – possibly until Beagle is back in the lineup. Whatever happens, some of the younger Capitals could be affected the most.