The window has opened on amnesty buyouts, but no light has been shed on whether Brad Richards will be invited back to New York for the third year of his nine-year contract or whether the 33-year-old center will join marquee names such as 2004 Cup-winning Tampa Bay teammate Vincent Lecavalier on the open market.
“I have no clue,” Richards said Thursday afternoon in an email to The Post. “I’m just waiting.”
Richards did chat with incoming coach Alain Vigneault early in the week but the subject of a buyout was not part of the getting-to-you-know chat. There has been no communication between the Blueshirts’ front office and either Richards or his representatives at Newport Sports.
“AV and I had a great talk,” Richards said. “But besides that, it’s been very silent.”
Richards, who staggered through the worst season of his career in the absence of training camp and a defined offseason during which he was involved in CBA negotiations, has seven years with an annual cap charge of $6.67 million remaining on his deal. A buyout would cost $27.342 million on top of the $22.341 million Richards already has received over the first two years of his front-loaded contract.
The Rangers are confident Richards will be a much stronger player next season and would thus prefer to postpone the decision on their lone remaining amnesty buyout until next summer’ final amnesty buyout opportunity.
But it is also believed that management wants to retain the buy-out option until as close to the deadline as possible in case they need his cap space to pursue a player who unexpectedly becomes available leading up to the July 5 opening of the free agent market.
There’s this consideration as well: A 2013-14 injury could take the matter out of the Rangers’ hands by rendering Richards ineligible for an amnesty buyout. In that case, the Blueshirts would be vulnerable to substantial cap-recapture penalties should Richards opt to retire at any point before the end of his contract.
The Rangers are not believed among the serious suitors for the 33-year-old Lecavalier, who has long been coveted by the Canadiens and likely will attract considerable interest from at least a half-dozen clubs, including the Red Wings and Maple Leafs.
* The Rangers were scheduled to open preliminary talks with Henrik Lundqvist’s representatives from Newport Sports last night regarding an extension for the goaltender’s contract that expires at the end of this season.
The Blueshirts are not committed to re-signing impending free agent winger Ryan Clowe, who is believed to have sustained concussions on April 25 and May 10 previously having suffered on with San Jose before being traded to New York on April 2.
If the Rangers do re-sign Clowe, the Sharks will get their second-round pick in 2014 NHL Entry Draft.