Todd Richards (ice hockey)

Todd Michael Richards (born October 20, 1966) is an American ice hockey coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. Todd is the brother of Travis Richards.

This article is about the ice hockey player and coach. For the snowboarder, see Todd Richards (snowboarder).

Todd Richards
Richards in 2013 coaching the Blue Jackets
Born	(1966-10-20) October 20, 1966 Crystal, Minnesota, U.S.
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	194 lb (88 kg; 13 st 12 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Right
Played for	Genève-Servette HC Orlando Solar Bears Las Vegas Thunder Springfield Indians Hartford Whalers Fredericton Canadiens Sherbrooke Canadiens
NHL Draft	33rd overall, 1985 Montreal Canadiens
Playing career	1989–2002

Playing career

Richards was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the University of Minnesota for four seasons.

He began his professional career with the Sherbrooke Canadiens during the 1989–90 AHL season. After being traded early the next season to the Hartford Whalers organization, he helped the Springfield Indians win the 1991 Calder Cup. Richards also made his NHL debut during that season, playing two games and recording four assists for the Whalers. Richards spent two more seasons with the Indians before beginning to play in the IHL, spending two seasons with the Las Vegas Thunder, and six seasons with the Orlando Solar Bears. He ended his playing career in 2002 with the Genève-Servette HC of the National League A in Switzerland.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, Richards spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Admirals. The Admirals advanced to the playoffs each year. In 2004, Milwaukee won the Calder Cup, after sweeping the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in four games.

On August 3, 2006, Richards became the fifth head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. During his first season, he guided Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 51-24-2-4 record and a second-place finish in the AHL’s East Division. The Penguins advanced to the East Division Finals before falling to the Hershey Bears.

Richards signed as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks of the NHL for the 2008–09 season.

Richards became the second head coach in the history of the Minnesota Wild in June 2009, and the first native of Minnesota to hold the job. After two seasons as head coach and posting a record of 77-71-16, Richards was fired on April 11, 2011. In both seasons, the Wild were in playoff contention most of the season, but ended up missing the playoffs. [1] In June 2011, Richards had been hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets as an assistant coach under head coach Scott Arniel.[2] After a poor first half of the season, Arniel was fired on January 9, 2012, and Richards was named as interim head coach.[3]

On May 14, 2012, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced the signing of Todd Richards to a two-year contract, making him the sixth full-time coach in team history.[4]

On April 19, 2014, Richards led the Blue Jackets to their first ever Stanley Cup playoff victory, a 4-3 double overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.[5]

On April 23, 2014, Richards coached the Blue Jackets to their first ever Stanley Cup playoff home victory, winning 4-3 in overtime over the Pittsburgh Penguins.[6]

On May 27, 2014, the Blue Jackets signed Richards to a two-year contract extension through the 2016-17 season.[7]

On October 21, 2015, after starting the season 0-7, the Blue Jackets relieved Richards of his duties as head coach.[8]

On June 7, 2016, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Richards had been hired as an assistant coach.[9]

NHL coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season						Post Season
		Games	Won	Lost	OTL	Points	Finish	Won	Lost	Result
MIN	2009–10	82	38	36	8	84	4th in Northwest	—	—	Missed playoffs
MIN	2010–11	82	39	35	8	86	3rd in Northwest	—	—	Missed playoffs
CBJ	2011–12	41	18	21	2	(38)	5th in Central	—	—	Missed playoffs
CBJ	2012–13	48	24	17	7	55	4th in Central	—	—	Missed playoffs
CBJ	2013–14	82	43	32	7	93	4th in Metropolitan	2	4	Lost in First Round
CBJ	2014–15	82	42	35	5	89	5th in Metropolitan	—	—	Missed playoffs
CBJ	2015–16	7	0	7	0	0	(fired)	—	—	—
Total		417	204	176	37	.535	0 Division Championships	2	4	0 Stanley Cups

Awards and honors

Award	Year
All-WCHA Second Team	1986–87	[10]
All-WCHA Second Team	1987–88	[10]
All-WCHA Second Team	1988–89	[10]
AHCA West Second-Team All-American	1988–89	[11]
All-NCAA All-Tournament Team	1989	[12]

References

1. "Wild hire Todd Richards as head coach". Associated Press. 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
2. "Richards Hired as Assistant". The Columbus Dispatch. 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
3. "Blue Jackets fire coach Arniel, Assistant Richards takes over". TSN.ca. 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
4. "Blue Jackets keeping Richards as coach". NHL.com. 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
5. "Columbus Blue Jackets - Pittsburgh Penguins - April 19th, 2014".
6. "Pittsburgh Penguins - Columbus Blue Jackets - April 23rd, 2014".
7. "Blue Jackets sign coach Todd Richards to two-year contract extension through 2016-17 NHL season". bluejackets.nhl.com. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
8. "John Tortorella replaces Todd Richards as coach of Columbus (0-7-0)". ESPN. October 21, 2015.
9. "Lightning hire Todd Richards to serve as assistant coach".
10. "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
11. "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
12. "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Joe Mullen	Head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2006–2008	Succeeded by Dan Bylsma
Preceded by Jacques Lemaire	Head coach of the Minnesota Wild 2009–11	Succeeded by Mike Yeo
Preceded by Scott Arniel	Head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets 2012–15	Succeeded by John Tortorella