Brad Richards was on WFAN this morning with Sid Rosenberg, who is a die-hard New York Rangers fan, and by pure coincidence I was able to catch the interview in its entirety in my car. Here's a recap of some of the highlights of what Richards had to say:
- Sid Rosenberg opened the interview by trying to get Brad Richards to sing Yankees radio play-by-play man John Sterling's homerun call for Curtis Granderson, "The Grandy Man Can." Richards jokingly said he didn't want to start off that way, but he grew up a Yankees fan. Everyone around where Richards grew up was either a Red Sox fan or Blue Jays fan and Richards said he "hated them both." He also said he's looking forward to catching a game at the new Yankee Stadium.
- Richards will wear No. 19 for the Rangers. No word on what he had to do to get the number from Ruslan Fedotenko, but I'm sure he paid him off rather nicely. I was hoping for No. 91 myself, but oh well.
- Richards is at the Rangers' training facility doing work today for the Garden of Dreams Foundation. He said he'd met Rod Gilbert in the past, but this was the first time he really had a chance to talk with him. He said he's obviously still new to the team, but it seems like the charity is great.
- Richards will soon start looking for a place to live in New York or Westchester, NJ.
- Richards said he really liked listening to what Glen Sather and John Tortorella had to say. Richards said the way the Rangers are being built right now is the same as what Torts did with the Tampa Bay Lightning when they won a cup.
- In addition to centering the top line, the Rangers specifically talked to Richards about quarterbacking their Power Play, which he said he's looking forward to do.
- Richards called Henrik Lundqvist one of the best goaltenders in the world and said he's going to do all he can to take pressure off Hank from having to stand on his head every night. But in case a 2-on-1 breaks out the other way, Richards said it's good to know they have Lundqvist back there to bail them out.
- Richards referenced his past two seasons in Dallas and said right now he's in the prime of his career and in the best shape of his life.
- Richards said he hasn't spoken to Marian Gaborik yet, but plans to talk to him and is looking forward to playing with him. He still thinks Gaborik is a great player, as evidenced by his 2009-2010 season with the Ranger and is looking forward to going out there and dominating - great quote.
- As the interview wrapped up Sid Rosenberg told Richards he had to start hating the Islanders as soon as his plane landed and he stepped foot in New York. Richards' response? "Yes," which drew laughs and applause from Rosenberg.
The end of the interview wrapped up with Richards talking some more about the Garden of Dreams event that's going on today, and revealed that he'll be wearing No. 19 at the end.
Great interview, overall. It's always nice to hear any rare hockey talk on WFAN, and landing n interview with Brad Richards was extra cool.
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