The Chicago Blackhawks filled their hole at second-line centre by securing the services of a veteran at a cut-rate price. Numbers Game looks at the Blackhawks signing Brad Richards. The Blackhawks Get: C Brad Richards. Richards, 34, has been a productive scorer throughout his career, but that productivity has waned as he approaches his mid-thirties. While he finished with a respectable 51 points in 82 games last season, that 0.62 points per game represented a career low and the second-lowest rate of his career was in 2012-2013, when he had 0.74 points per game. The downward trend is pretty clear at this point. He played 18:40 per game last season, his lowest average time on ice since his rookie season in 2000-2001. Given the massive contract that Richards had with the New York Rangers (nine years, $60-million), and the new recapture penalties that were imposed in the latest collective bargaining agreement, the Rangers had little choice but to buy out Richards, after paying him $33-million for the first three years of his deal. A long and productive career leaves Richards with few needs financially, so he went into his newfound free agency looking for a good fit and settled on joining the Blackhawks, a Stanley Cup contender who could use an upgrade at their second-line centre spot. In the past couple years, even as his point production has started to fall, Richards has had his zone starts tilted towards the offensive zone, with more than 65% of his shifts starting in the offensive zone. As a result, hes had strong possession stats, which may be enough to suggest that, even in decline, in a sheltered role, Richards would be an upgrade on Michal Handzus as Chicagos number two centre. In Chicago, there is a good opportunity for Richards to have a productive year. Any combination of the Blackhawks top scoring wingers includes Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad, so playing with two of them ought to give Richards a chance to have decent even-strength production. Whether Richards can match last seasons scoring totals, however, probably will have some dependence on power play production and, over the past couple seasons, Richards has really struggled to produce with the man advantage. Furthermore, Richards presence likely means that top Blackhawks prospect Teuvo Teravainen wont be starting the season in Chicago and that may be fine for his overall development, but if Teravainen shows that hes ready, it would be easy enough to see Richards bumped down the depth chart, as has happened from time to time with the Rangers over the past couple seasons. There is a benefit to the contract that Richards signed with Chicago -- a one-year, $2-million deal -- in that his declining production in New York was frequently contrasted with how much money the Rangers had tied up to get him. Now, Richards is a bargain signing and if he gives Chicago decent second-line production, he would bring a positive return on investment. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Adidas Yeezy 350 Uk Release . On Sunday, head coach Patrick Roy said the teams leading scorer will skate at Mondays morning practice and the club will make a decision on his status for Game 6 at that point. Yeezy Boost 350 Buy Online Uk . The team of Lars Nelson, Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, and anchor Marcus Hellner cruised to victory in the 4x10 km event, winning in a time of one hour, 28 minutes, and 42. http://www.yeezy350saleuk.com/. -- Novak Djokovic benefited from an erroneous call and claimed he didnt realize he had broken the rules. Yeezy Boost 350 For Sale Cheap . The closer wasnt available. The road trip, a disaster to that point. Cheap Yeezy Boost 350 Real . Fourteen players were suspended last summer by Major League Baseball as part of the Biogenesis drug scandal, ranging from All-Stars to also-rans.DETROIT - The Toronto Maple Leafs looked overmatched for 65 minutes. Then they got the best of the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout.Mike Santorelli scored Torontos second goal in the tiebreaker, and the Maple Leafs beat the Red Wings 2-1 on Wednesday night.Santorelli, the Maple Leafs third shooter, got the puck past Jimmy Howard to lift Toronto to its third straight win and even the season series with its Atlantic Division rival 2-2.We werent at our best tonight, but we stood up to the challenge, Santorelli said after lifting his team to its first shootout win of the season.Tyler Bozak also scored in the shootout for Toronto. Pavel Datsyuk netted the lone goal for the Red Wings in the tiebreaker.Toronto had beaten Calgary on Tuesday night at home. Detroit hadnt played since Sunday.I think any time you can get points on back-to-backs, youve got to take it and run, no matter how you won, Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said.Detroit broke a scoreless tie late in the second period when Tomas Jurco flicked a rebound of his shot to Gustav Nyquist, who spun and wristed the puck past prone goalie James Reimer.Toronto made it 1-1 early in the third when Phil Kessel tapped in James van Riemsdyks centring pass for his 15th goal.Reimer made 41 saves. Howard stopped 18 shots for the Red Wings, who had a three-game winning streak end.Detroit outshot the Maple Leafs 40-16 in regulation but went to overtime after missing on several good chances, including three breakaways. Datsyuk had the best opportunity but shot high late inn the first.ddddddddddddI think well be OK with this one, Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg said. Weve just got to bear down when we get chances.Reimer gave up six goals in the first two periods of a Nov. 18 loss to Nashville.I managed to get a couple of good bounces. I hadnt been getting a lot of them, he said after his fifth win of the season. I thought our team played great.I know that sounds weird if you look at the shots but they skated real hard and worked real hard.Nyquist kept Detroit in the game late in overtime when he knocked away a puck that dribbled toward the goal line after it slid past Howard.The many Maple Leafs fans inside Joe Louis Arena roared at the end of the first period when van Riemsdyk appeared to score at the horn, but officials quickly ruled that the puck crossed the line after time expired.The loss dropped the Red Wings to 1-4 in shootouts this season — theyve been outscored 14-3 in the tiebreaker — but coach Mike Babcock was happy to walk away with a one-point division lead over idle Tampa Bay.We got a point, they stole two points; but Ill take it every night, he said. If you play like that youre going to win.NOTES: The teams will wrap up the five-game season series Saturday in Toronto. . Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader (shoulder) missed his fifth straight game. ... Toronto forward Leo Komarov also was scratched. He has missed five straight since he sustained a concussion on Nov. 28 against Washington. ... The Maple Leafs didnt hold a morning skate on Wednesday. ' ' '