Brad Richards decided to sleep on it.
After visiting with several teams in Mississauga, Ont., on Friday and talking to more over the phone, the big fish in this year's free-agent market, center Brad Richards, decided he would take some time reconvene Saturday with his agent, Pat Morris, before deciding where he will continue his career.
Richards is believed to be fielding interest and long-term contract offers from the Rangers, Kings, Maple Leafs, Flames and Flyers. The Kings, Maple Leafs and Lightning made in-person pitches to Richards at Morris' office, Newport Sports Management Inc., but Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman told local reporters Friday evening that his team was no longer in the running.
Richards is expected to make his decision Saturday.
The Rangers have been considered the front-runners for Richards and according to a tweet from Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Rangers Executive Chairman James Dolan was in touch with Richards on Friday. Brooks also reported that the Rangers will be afforded the opportunity to match any offer Richards receives.
One of those could be from the Kings, who sent team governor Tim Leiweke along with a caravan of people that included GM Dean Lombardi and coach Terry Murray to Mississauga to pitch their team to Richards. The Kings met with Richards and Morris for two hours and showed a video that includes Wayne Gretzky and Kobe Bryant talking about the merits of being a professional athlete playing and living in Los Angeles.
"This was a high priority for the Kings and a high priority for AEG and ownership," Leiweke told Rich Hammond of the L.A. Kings Insider blog on the Kings' website. "We spent a lot of time on it in the last few weeks. We were well-prepared. We were well-organized. We were well-briefed. He was shocked as to how much we knew about him. He has a lot of choices, probably offers that are going to be better than ours, but I definitely think we have him thinking."
Toronto sent Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Dave Nonis, Assistant GM Claude Loiselle and Special Advisor Cliff Fletcher to the office with the Maple Leafs' pitch -- GM Brian Burke is in Afghanistan visiting with Canadian troops.
The Leafs are in the market for a No. 1 center to play with Phil Kessel. Richards would fill that void.
They reportedly met with him and Morris for an hour.
Calgary joined the fray later in the day, but TSN's Darren Dreger reported that the Flames were making a strong push and used captain Jarome Iginla to help sell the team in a phone conversation with Richards. Calgary is believed to be a player in the Richards' sweepstakes largely because of his relationship with GM Jay Feaster, who was the general manager in Tampa Bay when Richards was with the Lightning.
Philadelphia GM Paul Holmgren confirmed Friday night that he had talked to Morris "a few times," but he wasn't sure of the timetable on Richards making a decision.
"I think they're just going to take their time," Holmgren said. "As far as I know they're still listening to a few teams. So, I don't know where that all sits. There's a lot of teams that are waiting around to see if they can add a player of that caliber."
Buffalo owner Terry Pegula reportedly was planning to speak with Richards, but the Sabres opted instead to hammer out a deal with Ville Leino for a reported six years and $27 million. Sabres GM Darcy Regier told reporters his team won't make a pitch to Richards.
Richards had 77 points in 72 games with the Dallas Stars last season. He has 716 points in 772 career NHL games and won the Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004.
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