Gagne has been there, done that

Before the Philadelphia media swarmed Mike Richards this afternoon, they formed a semi-circle around Simon Gagne, who played 10 seasons for the Flyers before being traded to Tampa Bay in the summer of 2010. Gagne already had his Philadelphia reunion when the Lightning faced the Flyers last season, so most of the questions for Gagne were related to Richards’ return. Gagne has been credited as one of the people who has helped ease Richards’ transition to the Kings, since they were teammates and linemates in Philadelphia. Gagne talked about making the transition after spending a long time with one team…

GAGNE: “I think he’s doing better than I did last year. I did struggle, on my side, last year, but with Mike, he seems to be doing pretty good now. He’s playing really well for us right now. We’ve got a great bunch of guys who help to make things a little easier. At the same time, he’s coming to a team where he knows a lot of people and coaching staff and stuff like that, so he’s doing really well right now.’’

Question: What do you think the fan reaction will be like?

GAGNE: “I think the fans are going to be great with Mike. He was here for six, seven years. I think Flyers fans are always pretty good with players that have been drafted by the Flyers from day one. He won a Calder Cup with the Phantoms and then, after that, played with the Flyers and played his best every night. Then he was a captain for the Flyers, which is always something special for any player. So I think the fans are going to be really good with Mike and I think he’s looking forward to tomorrow.’’