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Stars News & Notes Monday, March 17, 2008 When Brad Richards played with the Tampa Bay Lightning the team motto was "Safe is death." Now that he is with the Stars, safe isn't death and it's something he is still adjusting to almost three weeks since the deadline deal that brought him to Dallas from Tampa. "It's a lot different. It's going to be a process. Some habits of how we played in Tampa are still in my game," Richards said Monday during a radio interview. "They want to be aggressive here but they have a different mentality here, a safer mentality I guess you could say. If you can't get there, back off and fight another day. "It's different and a lot harder to play this than the way we played in Tampa and the minutes are harder and different. This is fun though. We have a talented team. It's going to be exciting." Richards appeared on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada radio program and talked about adjusting to life with the Stars' style of play. "That's the thing I've got to get into my head not to worry about it too much. The coaching staff has told me that the last few days, to just let my game go and not worry about it," Richards said. "I am trying to fit in so much that you forget that is just the game of hockey that you play. That's part of it. "The defensive zone is the same thing every team teaches now, which is protect the middle of the ice and keep everything outside. It's just the neutral zone stuff and sometimes the forecheck. They don't necessarily send the two guys, or go no matter what. Sometimes they like to back off. It's just comes down to letting yourself go and play. That's what I have to do here." Richards has seen his ice time drop since coming do Dallas, but he knew that would happen when he realized he would be leaving Tampa Bay before the deadline. He, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis carried a big share of the load with the Lightning. In Dallas there is more depth and balance, and that is just fine with Richards. "We all want to be on the ice. You don't want to say no, but 24 minutes a night - and certain parts of the season it was more than that - makes it hard to finish out games or if you need something at the end," Richards said of the heavy load in Tampa. "They like to roll the lines here [in Dallas] and that is going to be a good thing going into the playoffs." Richards also said there is an adjustment to the Western Conference style of play, which he had always heard was different but wasn't exactly sure how much because to the lack of games between the two conferences over the years. "I've noticed every game we've played so far we're playing against a 1-4, where they are stacking the blue line and you've got to get pucks deep and grind it out a little bit more," Richards said. "I don't know why it's different. We didn't play the West a whole lot over the past few years, everybody said it was different and I kept wondering how it could be. "It does definitely have a different feel. It's just a tighter game out there. I can't explain it. Your guess is as good as mine as to why it is like that. When you get into the playoffs it is definitely going to be a tougher game to play." Making an impression with Brad During his interview with CBC Brad Richards was asked to name a player on the Stars' roster that he didn't know a lot about, but who he thinks deserves more recognition. Richards named two players. "Some people talk about him and some people don't, but Jere Lehtinen is an amazing talent and solid," Richards said. "I just didn't appreciate what he could do until I've seen him here up close. I played a couple games with him on my line and he is just a quality, solid player. "And then that young kid Loui Eriksson is going to be a tremendous player. He's really impressed me since I got here. I could hardly recognize the name or put a face to the name when I got here, but he is a really good player." Stars Notes
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