That's gotta hurt

Tampa Bay Lightning center Brad Richards returned to his parents' home in Murray Harbor, PEI, on Thursday after being released from a Philadelphia hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a severe tear in his lower abdominal wall. Richards, who won the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP during the Lightning's Stanley Cup run in June, had been playing during the lockout for Ak Bars Kazan in Russia. He returned to North America in December after only 7 games (2+5) with the team, citing pain in his hip and abdomen. It was originally diagnosed as a sports hernia. Richards expects to be able to begin working out again by late-March, which would be just in time for the home-stretch if the NHL's lockout gets resolved (yeah, right).