'Scary' pain brings Richards home

Severe pain in his hip and abdomen forces Brad Richards to leave Russia.

By TOM JONES
Published December 17, 2004

The NHL lockout has wiped out the NHL season so far, but the Lightning still might have suffered a major injury.

Lightning center Brad Richards, the MVP of last spring's Stanley Cup playoffs, left the Russian team he was playing for during the lockout because of severe pain in his hip and lower abdomen. That type of pain often is associated with a sports hernia, which can keep a player out of action for days to months.

"I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it has become a scary thing," Richards said by telephone from Toronto. "It has gotten to the point that it hurts when I cough. I want it checked out right away because it has gotten bad."

Richards left Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Super League on Wednesday and spent Thursday night in Toronto. He is scheduled to fly to Tampa today to be examined by his personal doctor. It isn't known how serious the injury is, but Richards' agent, Pat Morris, said it was serious enough to fly Richards back to North America.

"His hip has been bothering him for some time, but when the pain became too excruciating and moved into the lower abdomen, we decided to bring him home," Morris said. "We were worried enough that we wanted to get him home."

Richards, who played through a hip flexor injury in February, said it wasn't one hit or moment when the hip began hurting.

"No, it just started hurting pretty much from the time I got over there," Richards said. "And then it just kept getting worse and worse. At first, any time I made a quick movement, I could feel it. Then it got worse and to the point that it hurt when I tried to lift my leg while sitting on the bench. That's when I knew that it was getting serious."

Richards said he met with medical people in Russia and was satisfied with his treatment, but felt the injury could be severe enough that he wanted to be examined by those familiar with his medical history.

"It wasn't an issue of not getting the right care over there," Richards said. "We have been treated great. But with the language barrier and the fact that I've had something similar to this in the past, it was best to come home. Hopefully it won't be serious and if it isn't, I intend on going back over."

According to Morris, it was his decision for Richards to return to North America.

"I don't want it to appear that I'm saying the Russian medical people are incompetent," Morris said. "That's not the case. We just thought it was better to get him home. I wanted to be safe. It was my recommendation that he come back."

Richards flew from Kazan to Moscow and then London, where he spent Wednesday night. He flew from London to Toronto on Thursday. After meeting with his doctor today, Richards is expected to fly back to Toronto on Saturday and then to his hometown on Prince Edward Island to stay with his parents.

"We're hoping it's not bad, but I know from talking to him that it has been a nagging thing since he has been over there," Richards' father, Glen, said. "You can't mess around with something like this, so it's good that he's having it checked out over here."

Richards played well in his short stint with Ak Bars Kazan, which also has Lightning players Nikolai Khabibulin and Vinny Lecavalier as well as several other NHL players. He had two goals and five assists in six games.

"He was productive even though he was in a lot of pain," Morris said. "We're bringing him back because we think it's important that he be ready to go if there is (an NHL) season or if there isn't, that he can go back to Kazan at 110 percent. We just want to get the situation rectified and we feel this is the best way to do it."

Richards said, "I'll know more (today), but I'm hopeful that I can be back playing soon. But we'll see."

[Last modified December 17, 2004, 00:07:19]