Will Richards keep his star?

When Todd Richards was introduced as the new head coach of the Minnesota Wild, everyone pointed out his offensive style of coaching. This is of course an exaggeration by the Wild PR staff aimed at convincing Marian Gaborik to stay with the team - Richards' Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins finished in the middle of the pack in GF in 07/08 (223 GF, 77 behind league leading Chicago Wolves) and were fourth in 06/07 (276GF, 55 behind the Wolves). Fortunately for Gaborik there is no doubt that Richards' system will be less defensive than Jacques Lemaire's - simply because that Lemaire is the guru of the neutral zone trap and has completely avoided giving offense a key role. Will it be enough for Gaborik, who might have a yearly cap-hit in the range of $8 million?

It might, simply because the Slovak's health is a big issue - his first three years in the NHL were near perfect, but after the injuries started in 2003/04, he played only 70+ game season (07/08). For a lot of teams, especially in the salary cap era, this is a warning sign before giving him a big contract. Gaborik's agent should be aware of it - his delaying of negotiations might force Minnesota to offer the rightwinger a salary higher than they planned - and higher than Gaborik would have gotten from a different team as an UFA.