from Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press,

Mike Richards is exactly what the Winnipeg Jets need.

If he hits the market, the Jets will have as strong an opportunity to sign him as any team in the NHL. It’ll be a deal they’ll have to get done.

Richards is a driver, not a follower. He’s a competitor of a different stripe and there are only a handful of players in the NHL with the kind of will he brings to the game.

Put it this way: The Jets have a list of players that opponents look at and say, "we can push him and him and him out of the game." It’s a big factor in the games they lose.

Richards doesn’t get pushed out of games. He does the pushing. He’s smart, he’s a little dirty and he’s been around. He’s no longer a top-six player, but a third-line centre who can draw some growl from a team’s engine.

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