Justin Vavala Volume 1

Hello, I'm Justin Vavala and I was born in 1982. In my lifetime, the Sixers were the only team to win a championship---when I was one year old. I have a truly love/hate relationship with my teams. I can't possibly estimate how many heated "conversations" I have had with people who I consider friends. I will defend my team to the death. But really, how long o lord, how long? Having said that, let's see what we've got.

Okay, so we all know the flyguys are stumbling a little. They're inconsistent. Simon Gagne's return date has changed enough to introduce some serious concern. We're tied for last place in a brutally tough division. But we're far from out of it. So, I'm gonna spare everyone the "what-are-they-doing?" and look on the bright side:

Michael Richards.

I don't think people are grasping the magnitude of this breakout performance. Think about this seriously for a moment. Imagine if J.R. Reed got time at Safety and came out of nowhere to outplay our beloved B-Dawk on the way to a Pro Bowl season. Every man, woman, and child within a 50 mile radius would be wearing the number 30 and Joe from Fishtown would be on WIP declaring him to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Meanwhile, most people couldn't recognize Richards in a police lineup. This is arguably what's happening with Richards and our superstar Danny Breire.

For a while now, we've heard that Mike Richards was a leader, he put up modest numbers and continued in a storied lineage of Special Team sparkplugs like Joel Otto and Michael Handzus'. And while he's retained that role, he's playing more like a Mark Recchi than just a solid stop gap on the Penalty Kill. He's second in the league in Short Handed Goals. He's only trailing Henrik Zetterburg in the entire league in Power Play points. He's out scoring Joe Thorton, Alexander Ovechkin, Martin St. Louis, and Mats Sundin. He has routinely outplayed Division rival and face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby, in all their meetings this year.

And he didn't even make the All Star Game ballot (write-in).

So, yeah, maybe I'm kissing the guys ass a little here, but someone has to.

Justin Vavala