Brad RICHards!

Unlike the LeBron sweepstakes, this ‘Decision’ wasn’t quite as dramatic. It wasn’t quite as hyped.

But most importantly, MSG didn’t fail to lure the free agent prize.

Brad Richards is a Ranger. A rich one at that. The deal is worth nine years, $58.5 million and is reportedly very (not surprisingly) front-loaded.

I posed the question on Twitter earlier this morning when the news broke whether you thought this was a must-make move, or if the Rangers spent too much. Reactions were mixed, but I would say the slight majority leaned towards approval.

Is it a lot of money? No doubt about it. But Rangers fans have been calling for Richards for more than a year now. They had cap space, and didn’t jump the gun at the deadline this year to trade for him. Obviously, his concussion played a role in that decision, but the point being the Rangers didn’t throw away a couple of young pieces. Now the Rangers are in a position to re-sign the likes of RFA’s Callahan, Dubinsky, Artie, and Sauer, while adding star power.

The core is there. The youth movement took on great strides in this past season. The identity has been built. Now it’s time to go for the jugular. Richards was by far and away the elite free agent of this year’s class. He’s also exactly the player the Rangers so desperately need. A top-line center who can play along with Gaborik, and a quarterback for the power play.

Obviously, this signing doesn’t come without risk. What signing does? Richards has yet to play in a major market like New York. He’s going to have a tremendous amount of pressure on him, pressure that he has never had before. But that also means some of the weight is lifted off of Hank and Gaborik. The leash will be short. If he struggles out of the gate, fans will start to get restless.

But don’t forget this: Richards has played for, and won a Cup under, Jon Tortorella. They know one another. Torts has this group of young players on the same page and believing in his style. Richards already knows it. There is a solid core of defenders, one of the best goaltenders in the world, and a number of gritty, hard-working players who know their roles.

Teams don’t win the Cup in free agency. Remember when the Rangers signed Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in the same offseason and were quickly the Eastern Conference favorite for many?

At the end of the day, the Rangers got their guy and are a much better team today than they were yesterday.