Richards submits to abdominal surgery

The Lightning would be without its playoff MVP if the lockout ends soon.

By TOM JONES
Published January 21, 2005

Even if the NHL season is saved, the Lightning would play much of it without one of its top players.

Playoff MVP Brad Richards had surgery Wednesday to repair a tear in his abdominal wall and will be out at least six weeks.

The NHL season is on hold because of the owners' lockout, but if the season is saved, it likely would start around Feb. 1. Richards probably would be out of action until at least mid March.

"I feel pretty lousy," Richards said Thursday in a telephone interview. "It just kept getting worse and worse. I knew that if tried to play with it, I would only be playing at half-speed for fear of it getting worse. I figured it was just best to go ahead and have it now."

Richards' agent, Pat Morris, said the decision to have surgery came after getting a second opinion from Dr. William C. Meyers, one of the nation's leading abdominal specialists who has performed similar surgeries on Lightning forward Tim Taylor and former Lightning goalie Dan Cloutier.

"He is the expert in this area," Morris said.

Meyers repaired the tear and loosened the abductor around the abdomen during what Morris called a "successful surgery" in Philadelphia.

Richards was released from the hospital Thursday and returned to his parents' home in Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island.

"The thinking was to have the surgery now rather than having Brad try to play at 50 percent or whatever and it eventually breaking down," Morris said. "We didn't want it to get worse and then have him pull out in mid March and be lost for the playoffs, if there are playoffs this year."

Richards finished third on the Lightning in scoring last season with 79 points (26 goals, 53 assists). He led the Lightning in playoff points (26 in 23 games) and was named winner of the Conn Smythe Award as MVP of the playoffs. The Lightning was 31-0-2 last season, including 9-0 in the playoffs, when Richards scored a goal.

After playing for Canada in the World Cup of Hockey, Richards signed to play during the lockout with Ak Bars Kazan in Russia.

While in Russia, Richards noticed a dull pain in his hip and lower abdomen. The pain became severe enough that he had trouble lifting his leg and it forced him to return to North America on Dec. 16. Originally diagnosed as having a sports hernia (a weakness in the abdominal wall), Richards rested the past month, but the pain did not go away.

"It was worse than originally thought," Morris said. "It was torn. The recommendation was the only way for it to be fixed was through surgery."

Richards said he cannot skate for at least three weeks and, "if all goes well," he might be able to play in six or seven weeks.

Because of the lockout, the Lightning declined comment on Richard's injury.

If the NHL season does start in the next few weeks, it will mark the first time Richards has missed a game because of injury. He missed two games in January 2003 to attend his grandmother's funeral, but those are the only games he has missed since joining the Lightning and the NHL at the start of the 2000-01 season.

"Hopefully, this will correct the problem," Richards said. "Hopefully, there will be a season I can return quickly."

[Last modified January 21, 2005, 00:30:24]