Richards ready for great expectations

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Brad Richards doesn't try to hide his admiration for Rangers coach John Tortorella, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in Tampa in 2004.

Wednesday, the elite center confided a few details of his conversations with Tortorella after he accepted a nine-year, $60 million contract to play in New York after a five-year stay in Dallas.

The topics included "what the needs are, what certain players are like, and what he's kind of expecting from me," Richards said. "His big thing was that winning here will be bigger than anything."

The pressure to win, doubtless, will be different in New York, where the Rangers missed the playoffs in 2009-10, and squeaked in last season only to be eliminated quickly, in five games by the Capitals. The spotlight awaits, and he knows it. "My last contract was a big contract, too [$39 million]," Richards said, "and I struggled a little in the first part of that; I'm five or six years older now and had a lot more experiences. But this will be a different animal for sure."

Richards dismissed any concern that his skills will diminish long before the contract ends after the 2019-20 season. "I just turned 31 in May, I'm not even thinking about nine years," he said. "My two best seasons have been my last two years; I'm going to try to keep building on that . . . I don't know where it's all going to go, I can't sit here and tell you that. Someday I can't play, I can't play . . . I've gotta walk away. I don't consider turning 31 to be too old. I've got a lot of years left."

The confidence stems from his regular summer training regimen, which he will resume shortly at Tampa's Athletes Compound, where clients include Derek Jeter, the Jets' Dustin Keller, Phillies slugger Ryan Howard and tennis champion Maria Sharapova, before settling into a Manhattan apartment.

So anybody wondering whether Richards will be overwhelmed in New York's celebrity life should think again. He's visited Sean Avery here in the summers, has friends in the Hamptons and managed to remain a humble hero to the 400 residents of Murray Harbour, the Prince Edward Island fishing community where he was born.

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"It's pretty big news . . . anytime you're from a small town, they're proud of everything you do," he said following a skate with youngsters as part of Garden of Dreams week. "They're a lot happier that I'm playing in East."

No longer will they be bleary-eyed after watching late-night games from Dallas and the west, and he said, "my parents get to come here: There are direct flights in the summer."

Richards will wear his favorite number 19, given up to him by former Tampa teammate Ruslan Fedotenko.

Richards, whose No. 91 jersey with the Stars sported an "A", isn't a rah-rah guy, but will be in the leadership mix. "I'm not going to come in and try to do anything spectacular that way," said Richards. "I'll talk when something needs to be said. I can bring a little more experience on the winning side and maybe mediate with Torts and explain how things work with him if it gets a little antsy."