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Holy Wave: Interloper [Album Review]

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Holy Wave
Reverberation Appreciation Society [2020]

Who: The story of Holy Wave starts in El Paso, Texas. This quickly changes in 2008 after a life altering My Blood Valentine show. The band then relocated to Austin where they’ve continued to reside.

Sound: The Texas psychedelic scene has always been an impressive one. Holy Wave is no exception to that rule. Growing with each record in their catalogue, their colorful sound showcases many otherworldly sounds from the psych genre.

TFN Final Take: Holy Wave has interested me ever since 2013’s Evil Hits came my way. Their follow-up, the next year, Relax had the band doing just that as it showcased a dreamier approach. With a few more albums under their belt and a bit of time-travel their new album Interloper is born. Interloper takes a new step for the band in the way that it was conceived. This is the first album that every band member has taken lead vocal duty. Does it add anything extra to the experience? Not really. Is the album still great? Yes, it is.

Interloper does benefit from being a hodgepodge of great songs. The album its self feels crafted in space. Song like “Schmetterling,” “No Love,” and “Redhead” give off a fantastical At War With The Mystics vibe. The title track it truly the greatest of the bunch. “Interloper” feels like it should be placed among “Breathe (In The Air),” “On The Run,” and “Time.” “R&B” buzzes like Black Angles track. “Hell Bastards” feel like it could venture into King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard territory at some point. “Buddhist Pete” flashes a bit of System of A Downs “Hypnotize” but you have to listen carefully.

Holy Wave have crafted an expansive album that’s fun and freewheeling. They don’t shy away from their influences and the music continues to be solid. With Interloper’s sound as a base, it really has me excited for what’s to come. I feel if the band really expands their scope and jams we could have a truly classic psychedelic album.

Holy Wave Review History: Freaks Of Nurture (2016) / Relax (2014) / Evil Hits (2013)

Holy Wave Website
Holy Wave Facebook
Reverberation Appreciation Society

-Reviewed by Christopher Tahy

Christopher Tahy

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Honey” [Video]

Travis – “Valentine” [Video]

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Cottage Slat Storage Bed

One of our best-sellers, the classic, clean lines of this bedroom collection give it a timeless versatility.

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Evoking the feel of heartland America with its solid craftsmanship, sturdy construction and attention to detail, it is easy to see why this is a Vaughan-Bassett favorite. Range of finishes to choose from. Also available in our Youth Bedroom category.

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The Most Beautiful Pink Sand Beaches In The World

For some, the ultimate vacation includes bright blue seas, gorgeous sunshine, and golden sands. If that's your idea of heaven, but you want something a little more unique, why not consider going somewhere a little different. Several beaches around the world come Instagram ready, with their own stunning pink sand. So whether you want to tap into the unspoiled geographical glory of Indonesia, or soak up some ancient culture in Greece, you truly can have it all.

01Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda

pink beach bermuda Orchidpoet / Getty Images

Perhaps one of the most famous beaches in the world, Horseshoe Bay Beach is a glorious expanse of pink blush beach. Found in Bermuda's South Shore Park, this is a beach that has everything - from a stunning coastal trail to world-class snorkeling. An incredible place to sit and unwind, Bermuda is legendary for offering the best of beach vacations.

02Harbour Island, Bahamas

Rüdiger Stehn on

The Pink Sand Beach of Harbour Island in the Bahamas gets its striking color thanks to the pink and red shells of tiny coral insects. This also gives the beach a particular cool feeling as you walk along the epic shoreline. The waters in the area are reef-protected waters, and this means you can enjoy snorkeling in the area and visit the living reefs.

03Elafonisi, Greece

pink beach elafonisi crete lucianbolca / Getty Images

Elafonisi is an island close to the Grecian island of Crete. In fact, the peninsula is connected to Crete, and when the tide is out, and the weather is fine, you can walk from Elafonisi to Crete. The pink sand beaches here are formed thanks to pigmented microorganisms that the tide brings in and deposits on the beach, leaving a vibrant pink residue. The island of Elafonisi also boasts a stunning cedar forest and some beautiful secluded beaches.

04Komodo Island, Indonesia

pink beach indonesia fototrav / Getty Images

Komodo National Park in Indonesia is part of the famous Coral Triangle. This area contains some of the most diverse biodiversity on earth and enjoys a stunning pink hue on the beach. The color of the sand shows up as pink as the white sand is combined with Foraminifera red sand. The park is also home to the protected Komodo dragon.

05Crane Beach, Barbados

crane island barbados vale_t / Getty Images

Of the things you can enjoy on Crane Beach, you can see beautiful pink sands and incredible waves - perfect for those who like to surf or boogie board. The Crane Resort is famous as the oldest continuously operating hotel in the Caribbean. This hotel also has its own beach, and a glass-fronted beach elevator to take guests down to the shore.

06Great Santa Cruz Island, Philippines

pink beach phillipines Joppi / Getty Images

To get to Great Santa Cruz Island, you'll have to take a boat. The gorgeous pink sands take their color from red organ pipe coral. The island is a great one for people who love to snorkel or scuba dive, as the water is brilliantly clear. However, the island has very few on-site facilities, but there is a small village on the island.

07Elbow Beach, Bermuda

pink sand elbow beach kosukeyuki / Getty Images

The pink sands of Elbow Beach, Bermuda, are an ideal place to visit if you want to take part in some excellent swimming action. The coral reefs just off the shore protect the area from severe waves. All along the south coast of Bermuda and the one-mile stretch of Elbow Beach, you'll find a fantastic array of bars and restaurants.

08Pink Beach, Bonaire Island

pink beach bonaire island Alexis Gonzalez / Getty Images

The Caribbean Island of Bonaire has a stunning rose-tinted narrow beach, which was caused by crushed pink shells. The island is famous for its incredible views and its even more for the incredible snorkeling and scuba diving conditions. This is because there are well-preserved coral reefs within easy swimming distance.

09Pachia Ammos, Crete

pacchia ammos crete barmalini / Getty Images

Surrounded by mountains, the world famous Pachia Ammos beach in Crete is known for being gold and pink. It's a popular tourist destination, so the beach has a lot of bars and restaurants to enjoy watching a sunset. Crete is packed full of historic sites, including a stunning church in a cave and some impressive ruins.

10Budelli Island, Sardinia

budelli beach sardinia alanphillips / Getty Images

Budelli Island, just off the northern coast of Sardinia, is known locally as "Spiaggia Rosa."The island itself is almost completely deserted - in fact, only one person lives on the place. The beach was featured in the movie "Red Desert" and can only be seen from boat thanks to regulations that are trying to keep the color vibrant. However, aside from the vibrant color, the area is also excellent for dolphin and whale watching.

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No Legs, No Issue: Farmer Makes The Most Of His Gifts

No Legs, No Issue: Farmer Makes The Most Of His Gifts
Kwasi Kumbepueru on his farm

Kwasi Kumbepueru is a 33 year old farmer at Miawani in Kintampo North District of Bono East Region.Though physically challenged, he braces all storms, with great attitude, to perform every task on his farm. Kwasi was born a normal baby but became physically challenged at a tender age due to what he says are family issues he

would want to keep private. For him, he also believes, nothing should stop him from getting things done to achieve his aspirations.Like other incredible people who do not have legs, Kwasi does focus on what he can do rather on what he can’t. He rides a small motorbike for ten minutes to get to his 37-acre farm daily to attend to

his crops.Kwasi then spends about 30 minutes to inspect three traps he has set for game.His targets are squirrels, bush rabbits, rats, and wild guinea fowls which provide good food for the family whenever he is lucky to have a good hunt. The sight of Kwasi busy at work, leaves one wondering if there is anything he

cannot do. Kwesi is a great example of a person who is making the most of his gifts. His positive attitude, courage and work ethic make him a true inspiration. He boasts of large stock of agricultural crops and livestock; yam, cassava, groundnut, maize, goats, sheep, and poultry.Averagely, he makes GHS10, 000 each good

farming season, besides what he feeds his family with. He gets support from farmhands that he employs.In bad seasons when the weather fails, like other farmers, Kwasi suffers poor yield and consequently, a drop in income.Besides farming, Kwasi is five in a fold he is a mechanic, butcher, pub operator and cobbler. He

doesn’t need a second person to check and service his broken down motorbike, cobble defective footwear or slaughter and dress an animal for food.Unfortunately, why Kwasi dropped-out of school is hard to explain. I can’t tell why I left the four corners of the classroom he says, but he recounts he could not cope with classroom

work so easily.It however didn’t push him to join hundreds of others like him who resort to begging on the streets. Kwasi sometimes regrets his condition, especially, when he remembers his hey-days or sees his colleagues actively walking and enjoying themselves. It pains me when I have to only sit and look at them. It is

painful, he laments.Events at which people dance and have fun are no-go area for Kwasi. Some of my friends would be dancing and wriggling their waist but I only have to sit quietly and watch,” he recalls.Despite the entire shortcoming, Kwasi looks forward to helping other vulnerable people, especially, farmers. He says, I

am ready to help anyone who wants to venture into farming. The native of of Jirapa in Upper West Region, is married with two children, a male and a female. Kwasi has lived at Miawani for the past fifteen years, having migrated at the age of 18.Kintampo North Municipal Assembly is providing special treatment to

Kwasi and other physically challenged farmers. Municipal Director, Simon Yambor, says, his outfit visits him regularly to provide extension services. He is an inspiration to many farmers here. We can’t therefore allow that inspiration to die, the agriculture director emphasized. Many village folks admire Kwasi for his

energy and hard work. In fact, they see him as a legend. You will marvel how he pays attention to his work. He doesn’t and wouldn’t give up, one of the village folks says.Ambitious Kwasi looks forward to clinching the National Best Farmer Award one day.


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Nature Is the Best Medicine

I’m feeling a little better, and it’s for two good reasons: I got out in nature AND I got to eat something, finally, at 2 pm (oops, one should remember to eat). I should have known spending all day cooped up in the condo yesterday wasn’t the best thing for my delicate sensibilities.

Seeing a real beach bunny would cheer anyone up!

We finally drug ourselves out of the house, and I told Lee I had to eat before we went to a park. That was harder than you’d think, because most of the restaurants on the west side of the main road closed during COVID. We eventually did a U-turn and decided it was about time to eat at one of those pancake restaurants.

A trip back in time.

The first open one we found was the Plantation Pancake House, which made me just as uncomfortable as attending Plantation High School did, but, to be honest, the restaurant IS on a former plantation. What a charming, nostalgic place this was. It opened in the early 70s, and I don’t think there’s been any redecorating since then. However, it was sparkling clean and had lovely healthy hanging plants throughout.

Not pancakes

Our food was all freshly cooked by the very nice cook (I know this, because he was chatting with customers and hugging the servers). But what made me feel like I had gone back in time was how the staff interacted. They were so incredibly cheerful and helpful, toward patrons and each other. They seemed to truly like working there, like each other, and have pride in the restaurant. Watching the servers all cleaning and straightening the restaurant at the end of the day was a real pleasure. This was simply a nice, family place who treats the staff well (and they were old, young, black, white, and Hispanic).

After the victuals, we headed just a couple of miles down the road (not wanting to waste gas) and arrived at Myrtle Beach State Park. We had a blast at this place, which is the last piece of natural beach left on the Grand Strand. We first checked out the nature center, which was very entertaining, with aquariums and terrariums, plus a real friendly volunteer to chat with. We got to see a whelk out of its shell trundling along, a couple of types of crabs, and a beautiful rat snake. We spent a LOT of time at their really nice bird feeders, too. Click to see larger and uncropped photos.

Lee and I then embarked on a tour of all the heavily wooded nature trails. I was reminded of how incredibly varied the native hardwood forests on the east coast originally were. There were oaks, pines, cherries, sycamores, magnolias, dogwoods, hickories, and even native olives. It smelled so nice and woodsy. Click to see the pictures larger.

We enjoyed the smaller plants, too, and were happy to see ducks, turtles, skinks, and a lot of different kinds of dragonflies and damselflies. There were wetlands as well as drier parts, which gave me a chance to see so many new and familiar things. And the park is so well done! They have signs on the trail marking many of the common plants, with some facts about them. That really adds to the enjoyment, I think.

This was exactly what I needed for healing: nature to touch, feel, hear, see, and smell. You could still hear the motorcycles, but you could also hear dozens of kinds of birds. I did get surprised when fighter jets took off from the nearby airport. Those things are loud.

We are two happy campers now, and I happen to know Lee is going to get even happier later tonight! Stay tuned…

Author: Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall

The person behind The Hermits' Rest blog and many others. I'm a certified Texas Master Naturalist and love the nature of Milam County. I manage technical writers in Austin, help with Hearts Homes and Hands, a personal assistance service, in Cameron, and serve on three nonprofit boards. You may know me from La Leche League, knitting, iNaturalist, or Facebook. I'm interested in ALL of you!

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Editor’s note: John Solomon’s columns regarding Ukraine became a subject of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Any updated information can be found at the end of the column.

Earlier this month, during a bipartisan meeting in Kiev, Sen. Chris MurphyChristopher (Chris) Scott MurphySenators slow Biden with holds at Pentagon, State Tell our troops: 'Your sacrifice wasn't in vain' Sunday shows preview: Bombing in Kabul delivers blow to evacuation effort; US orders strikes on ISIS-K MORE (D-Conn.) delivered a pointed message to Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

While choosing his words carefully, Murphy made clear — by his own account — that Ukraine currently enjoyed bipartisan support for its U.S. aid but that could be jeopardized if the new president acquiesced to requests by President Trump’s lawyer Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiRoger Stone served with Capitol riot lawsuit during radio interview FEC finds Twitter didn't break law by blocking spread of Hunter Biden story Juan Williams: The toxic legacy of Trump's corruption MORE to investigate past corruption allegations involving Americans, including former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenCapitol fencing starts coming down after 'Justice for J6' rally Senate parliamentarian nixes Democrats' immigration plan Biden pushes back at Democrats on taxes MORE’s family.

Murphy boasted after the meeting that he told the new Ukrainian leader that U.S. aid was his country’s “most important asset” and it would be viewed as election meddling and “disastrous for long-term U.S.-Ukraine relations” to bend to the wishes of Trump and Giuliani.

"I told Zelensky that he should not insert himself or his government into American politics. I cautioned him that complying with the demands of the President's campaign representatives to investigate a political rival of the President would gravely damage the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. There are few things that Republicans and Democrats agree on in Washington these days, and support for Ukraine is one of them," Murphy told me today, confirming what he told Ukraine's leader.

The implied message did not require an interpreter for Zelensky to understand: Investigate the Ukraine dealings of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and you jeopardize Democrats' support for future U.S. aid to Kiev.

The Murphy anecdote is a powerful reminder that, since at least 2016, Democrats repeatedly have exerted pressure on Ukraine, a key U.S. ally for buffering Russia, to meddle in U.S. politics and elections.

And that activity long preceded Giuliani’s discussions with Ukrainian officials and Trump’s phone call to Zelensky in July, seeking to have Ukraine formally investigate whether then-Vice President Joe Biden used a threat of canceling foreign aid to shut down an investigation into $3 million routed to the U.S. firm run by Biden’s son.

As I have reported, the pressure began at least as early as January 2016, when the Obama White House unexpectedly invited Ukraine’s top prosecutors to Washington to discuss fighting corruption in the country.

The meeting, promised as training, turned out to be more of a pretext for the Obama administration to pressure Ukraine’s prosecutors to drop an investigation into the Burisma Holdings gas company that employed Hunter Biden and to look for new evidence in a then-dormant criminal case against eventual Trump campaign chairman Paul ManafortPaul John ManafortDOJ investigating one-time Trump campaign adviser over alleged ties to Qatar: report Foreign lobbyists donated over M during 2020 election: report Former Mueller prosecutor representing Donoghue in congressional probes: report MORE, a GOP lobbyist.

U.S. officials “kept talking about how important it was that all of our anti-corruption efforts be united,” said Andrii Telizhenko, the former political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington who organized and attended the meetings.

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told me that, soon after he returned from the Washington meeting, he saw evidence in Ukraine of political meddling in the U.S. election. That's when two top Ukrainian officials released secret evidence to the American media, smearing Manafort.

The release of the evidence forced Manafort to step down as Trump’s top campaign adviser. A Ukrainian court concluded last December that the release of the evidence amounted to an unlawful intervention in the U.S. election by Kiev’s government, although that ruling has since been overturned on a technicality.

Shortly after the Ukrainian prosecutors returned from their Washington meeting, a new round of Democratic pressure was exerted on Ukraine — this time via its embassy in Washington.

Valeriy Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States at the time, confirmed to me in a statement issued by his office that, in March 2016, a contractor for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) pressed his embassy to try to find any Russian dirt on Trump and Manafort that might reside in Ukraine’s intelligence files.

The DNC contractor also asked Chaly's team to try to persuade Ukraine’s president at the time, Petro Poroshenko, to make a statement disparaging Manafort when the Ukrainian leader visited the United States during the 2016 election.

Chaly said his embassy rebuffed both requests because it recognized they were improper efforts to get a foreign government to try to influence the election against Trump and for Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonClinton lawyer's indictment reveals 'bag of tricks' Attorney charged in Durham investigation pleads not guilty Attorney indicted on charge of lying to FBI as part of Durham investigation MORE.

The political pressure continued. Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in crucial U.S. aid to Kiev if Poroshenko did not fire the country’s chief prosecutor. Ukraine would have been bankrupted without the aid, so Poroshenko obliged on March 29, 2016, and fired Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

At the time, Biden was aware that Shokin’s office was investigating Burisma, the firm employing Hunter Biden, after a December 2015 New York Times article.

What wasn’t known at the time, Shokin told me recently, was that Ukrainian prosecutors were preparing a request to interview Hunter Biden about his activities and the monies he was receiving from Ukraine. If such an interview became public during the middle of the 2016 election, it could have had enormous negative implications for Democrats.

Democrats continued to tap Ukraine for Trump dirt throughout the 2016 election, my reporting shows.

Nellie Ohr, the wife of senior U.S. Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, worked in 2016 as a contractor for Fusion GPS, the same Hillary Clinton–funded opposition research firm that hired Christopher Steele, the British spy who wrote the now-debunked dossier linking Trump to Russia collusion.

Nellie Ohr testified to Congress that some of the dirt she found on Trump during her 2016 election opposition research came from a Ukrainian parliament member. She also said that she eventually took the information to the FBI through her husband — another way Ukraine got inserted into the 2016 election.

Politics. Pressure. Opposition research. All were part of the Democrats’ playbook on Ukraine long before Trump ever called Zelensky this summer. And as Sen. Murphy’s foray earlier this month shows, it hasn’t stopped.

The evidence is so expansive as to strain the credulity of the Democrats’ current outrage at Trump’s behavior with Ukraine.

Which raises a question: Could it be the Ukraine tale currently being weaved by Democrats and their allies in the media is nothing more than a smoke screen designed to distract us from the forthcoming Justice Department inspector general report into abuses during the Democratic-inspired Russia collusion probe?

It’s a question worth asking.

John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He serves as an investigative columnist and executive vice president for video at The Hill. Follow him on Twitter @jsolomonReports.

Editor’s note: During House impeachment testimony, U.S. diplomats disputed claims made in The Hill and Politico that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. Former National Security Council official Fiona Hill said in impeachment testimony that “it is a fiction that the Ukrainian Government was launching an effort to upend our election.”

At the time of this column, Nazar Kholodnytsky, who is quoted in this column, was under investigation. On Jan. 29, the probe was closed.

Alexandra Chalupa on social media has strongly disputed John Solomon's columns on Ukraine and any suggestions that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

In the fall of 2019, Yuriy Lutsenko, who succeeded Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, said the Bidens did not violate Ukrainian laws.

This post was updated at 7:33 AM on Feb. 19, 2020.


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What Can Mike Richards Bring to Washington?

In a matter of months, it is pretty clear what the ethos of Brian MacLellan is as a general manager. Whatever he wants, he’ll tell it to you and then grab it. In the summer of 2014, he wanted to improve the overall depth along Washington’s group of defenseman. MacLellan got it with Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen. In the summer of 2015, he wanted high-caliber secondary scoring. MacLellan got that with T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams. Now, he wants to improve the talent within the bottom six forward lines to make sure they is not a complete drop off from the rest of the forwards on the team. After many rumors throughout social media, MacLellan proved that they were true by acquiring 30-year old Mike Richards.

There were definite fears that in order to get such an asset that Washington would have to free plenty of cap space by trading away Marcus Johansson. That is not ideal as the 25-year old Swede is having a tremendous season with 26 points in 39 games and, lately, has maximized the talents of Tom Wilson and Jason Chimera on the team’s third forward line. After receiving a one-year, $3.75 million deal after going through arbitration last offseason, it is understandable that Capitals management would find it hard to give Johansson an appropriate contract next summer when he goes into his last year of eligibility as a restricted free agent. This takes into account that the Capitals’ roster is sitting right up against the current $71.4 salary cap and fellow RFAs Dmitry Orlov, Wilson and Michael Latta are all due for significant pay increases.

Even with Chimera coming off the books this offseason, Washington lacks any true replacements within the organization to don a Capitals sweater and guarantee a place on the team’s 12 best forwards for a full 82 games beyond this season. Jakub Vrana might get his chance in the long term, but until he recovers from his broken wrist and  receives more experience at the AHL level, he will have to wait his turn. Thus, it made the most sense to find a suitable bottom six forward in the free agent market as of January 2016.

In that case, that bottom six forward became Richards, who will be on a $1 million deal that will last until the end of this season, but will be pro-rated to slightly more than $500,000 on Washington’s salary cap. There has been no secret, however, that the former Philadelphia Flyer and Los Angeles King has been quite poor at even strength puck possession since coming to Los Angeles in a trade in the summer of 2011. In fact, Richards’ career relative shot attempt percentages were only +0.3% while he was with Philadelphia and -4.5% while he was with Los Angeles.

That all being said, Richards was considered one of the best two-way forwards of his era and handled some of the toughest assignments while at the prime of his career. Of the 112 forwards that skated 7,500 minutes of even strength hockey since the 2005-06 season, he has the 14th toughest relative zone start percentage at -5.07%. Only Patrice Bergeron and David Backes have scored more even strength points per 60 minutes than Richards’ 1.64 while handling tougher assignments. What has made Richards a top-ten vote-getter for the Selke Trophy four times has been the fact that he was, arguably, the best penalty killing forward of his era.

from war-on-ice.com
from war-on-ice.com

With 28 shorthanded goals, only Marian Hossa’s 30 has more than any active player in the NHL. Unlike Hossa, Richards was one of 25 forwards that skated over 1,500 penalty killing minutes and while doing so, saw the most shot attempts for per 60 minutes while he was on the ice at 16.30. Of those same 25 forwards, only Alex Burrows and Antoine Vermette had positive relative shot attempt percentages while on the penalty kill (see chart above). The biggest example of his penalty killing prowess was his goal in game five against Montreal in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

There have been other forwards, like Hossa, that have been able to generate more offense while on the ice in shorthanded situations. In fact, names like Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis and Rick Nash are names you would least suspect being averaging over a minute per game shorthanded in the last eleven years, but there you are. That being said, you would never suspect those names to be ones to get in a way of a hard slap shot from a top power play unit. Instead, their skills are used more to cherry pick and create odd man rushes and shorthanded attempts while their teammates can do the dirty work. So it is not so much that Richards was a guaranteed MVP candidate in the peak of his NHL career (his four-year peak from 2007-2011 tied Christian Ehrhoff for 29th amongst all skaters in hockey-reference.com’s point shares with 33.2). It is more that Richards earned his reputation as one of the hardest working forwards in the game.

At only 5’10” and 196 pounds, having such a skillset would be understandably brutal for a player like Richards. He may have only missed 47 games due to injury, but after most playoff runs, Richards has needed offseason surgery; whether it is to the wrists, hands or shoulders. Add 124 career playoff games and you could see how a player that should still be in the latter stages of his prime years would look so worn out so fast.

Certainly at even strength, Richards has dwindled in that department and even if his on-ice production has been consistent on the penalty kill, his individual shot attempt rates have been dipping too. Amongst all forwards with 1,000 penalty killing minutes, Richards has the best individual shot attempt rate at 7.40. Since his move to the Kings, that rate has only been able to exceed to six per 60 minutes once in four seasons. As you saw from the previous link though, not many forwards can create offense off of the penalty kill and even getting off four per 60 minutes is good enough to be in the 50th percentile.

That’s why it is important for Richards to join a Caps penalty killing unit that, despite having sixth best success rate in the NHL at 84.8%, is due for a regression. Their current shot suppression while shorthanded sits at 17th with 99.4 attempts per 60 minutes. With Jay Beagle injured, Washington is missing one of it’s top suppressors and the Capitals sit just 21st in shorthanded shot generation at only 9.9 per 60 minutes.

Capitals forwards with over 40 penalty killing minutes for the 2015-16 season. Chart from war-on-ice.com
Capitals forwards with over 40 penalty killing minutes for the 2015-16 season. Chart from war-on-ice.com

If Richards were to see limited minutes as the team’s fourth line center and be among the teams top penalty killers than this could end up being the bargain McLellan needs to get the Capitals over the hump to win a Stanley Cup.