Revisiting the Mike Richards trade to the Kings

The Los Angeles Kings felt they were getting close to a championship and needed a veteran or two to put them over the top.

The Flyers wanted to get younger and faster.

And, so, the teams pulled the trigger on a blockbuster 2011 deal that sent captain Mike Richards to the Kings for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and a second-round draft pick that the Flyers later dealt for Nick Grossmann.

Ron Hextall, now the Flyers' general manager, was the Kings' assistant GM at the time, and he remembers vividly why the deal was attractive from Los Angeles' perspective.

"In L.A., we needed to move forward and push things a little bit," said Hextall, whose Flyers will host a powerful Kings team that includes Richards and Jeff Carter (whom Los Angeles later acquired from Columbus) on Tuesday night. "We had guys who were ready to push it, but we just had that one missing ingredient."

Richards brought grit, Hextall said.

"We needed his leadership; we needed another [two-way] player and someone who could play on the penalty kill and the power play," he said.

Trading Simmonds and Schenn was not easy.

"That almost killed us, to be honest," Hextall said. "You hate giving up young players. It was a hard deal to make."

The Richards deal has worked out for both sides. Statistically, the Flyers have received better production from Simmonds and Schenn than Richards has given the Kings, but Los Angeles has won two Stanley Cups.

Carter, the NHL's player of the week, has thrived in L.A. since joining Richards after the Kings sent Jack Johnson and a first-round pick to Columbus late in the 2011-12 season. The Flyers traded Carter to the Blue Jackets in 2011 for Jake Voracek and a first-round pick (Sean Couturier) that year.

There is no clear winner yet in the Flyers-Blue Jackets deal. Carter (team-high 12 points) has excelled, but Voracek (team-high 11 points) has become one of the Flyers' top players and Couturier is still blossoming.

One of the Flyers' main concerns Tuesday will be trying to contain the line of Carter and wingers Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli, a unit that has scored 16 of the Kings' 21 goals and is a combined plus-32. The line of Couturier, R.J. Umberger and Matt Read figures to be matched up against that big line.

"Size and speed," Flyers coach Craig Berube said of Carter's line. "It's a big line and it's hard to stop them. You've got to have guys who are really committed [against them] and have real good sticks."

At first, Simmonds, who leads the Flyers with five goals and has a team-best plus-5 rating, downplayed facing his ex-teammates Tuesday.

"I've been a Flyer longer than I was a King, so it's old news now," he said, later adding that he has "a lot of buddies on the team" and that he was excited to face them.

Simmonds has developed into one of the NHL's better power forwards.

"I got a different opportunity when I came to Philadelphia, and I just tried to seize the opportunity that was given to me by Lavy [coach Peter Laviolette], and it seems the organization has faith in me," said Simmonds, who scored a career-high 29 goals last season. "Obviously, I go out there and give it my all every night. I don't really think of what could have happened on the other end."

Schenn said he and Simmonds will have "a little extra motivation" facing their ex-teammates. "Obviously the Kings are a good team," he said. "They're deep, and it's going to be a tough test for us."

The defensively sound Kings are 6-1-1 and are coming off their first 6-0 homestand in franchise history.

"It's good to go against the best for the first time," said defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who will play in his second NHL game and will be paired again with Luke Schenn.

In 2011, the Flyers made two blockbuster trades on the same day: They sent Jeff Carter to Columbus for Jake Voracek, a first-round pick that turned into Sean Couturier, and a third-round pick that turned into Nick Cousins. They also traded Mike Richards to Los Angeles for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a second-round pick, which they parlayed into Nick Grossmann.

The Kings later acquired Carter from Columbus, and they have won two Stanley Cups since.

Here are the statistics of the NHL players in eight games this season, along with Cousins' totals in six AHL games with the Phantoms:

Voracek  2-9-11, minus-1

Couturier  2-3-5, minus-1

Cousins 2-6-8, plus-4

Carter 5-7-12, plus-12

Schenn 2-2-4, minus-1

Simmonds 2-5-7, plus-5

Grossmann 1-0-1, plus-2

Richards 0-2-2, minus-1

EndText

@BroadStBull