Richardson

Fantasy Impact: The Canucks, right up against the salary cap, have made a few depth signings. Brad Richardson is being brought in for two years (AAV $1.15 million), and defenseman Yannick Weber was signed for one year at $650k.

The Canucks:

Vancouver finally gets Weber. Unfortunately, it isn’t Shea. What they are really getting:

Versatily up front and depth on the back end. Richardson can play wing or center, and as things stand right now he is the third line center in Vancouver. The Canucks (and John Tortorella in particular) area keen on putting Kesler and Burrows back together, which should bump a good winger down to line three with Richardson.

Richardson isn’t a pure shutdown or checking center, but he can play at both ends of the ice. He’s quick, gritty, and will bring an element of tenacty that John Tortorella will really like.

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Richardson had six points in 16 games last year. His best season in the NHL came back in 2009-10 – 11 goals and 27 points in 81 games for the Kings. There was a reason for that strong offensive season.

His linemates from 2009-10:

Frequency	Strength	Line Combination
13.81%	EV	11 KOPITAR,ANZE – 15 RICHARDSON,BRAD – 17 SIMMONDS,WAYNE
10.31%	EV	63 PARSE,SCOTT – 15 RICHARDSON,BRAD – 17 SIMMONDS,WAYNE

Weber is a right shooting defenseman who is still only 24 years old. He’s a bit small but is a great skater and has a bomb of a shot. Right now, he is the #6 defenseman on the Vancouver depth chart. I’d expect him to play on the third pairing with either Edler or Garrison as his partner (more on the pairings below).

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Weber had four goals and 18 points in 61 games with Montreal back in 2011-12 (his best NHL season). More on the Weber signing from CanucksArmy.

Potential lines:

Sedin-Sedin-Kassian

Higgins-Kesler-Burrows

Booth-Richardson-Hansen

Gaunce-Schroeder-Weise

Sestito

The Canucks would like to add another depth forward too.

On the back end:

Hamhuis-Bieksa

Edler-Tanev

Garrison-Weber

Give Weber easy minutes and a lot of PP time, and move Garrison between the left and right side depending on the game and situation. Edler and Bieksa very clearly don’t work together.

Fantasy Players Impacted:

This is a great move for both players. No one in Vancouver really loses out – this is more competition for Frank Corrado, but he was a long shot to make the team out of camp in a depth role regardless.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Weber

2. Richardson

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

1. Corrado (short term)