Michael Latta grew up admiring Mike Richards, the center who was a junior hockey star in Latta’s hometown of Kitchener, Ontario. He followed his career with the Philadelphia Flyers and then with the Los Angeles Kings, where he won two Stanley Cups.
After the Capitals signed Richards last week, the two now share the same dressing room with the Washington Capitals, and Coach Barry Trotz has said that when Richards gets into the lineup — the plan being sometime before the all-star break at the end of the month — he will be the team’s fourth-line center.