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This isn’t an easy decision for Richardson. He had a 153-120-17-14 record in 304 games with Binghamton but after two consecutive trips to the playoffs, the team has missed the post-season the last two years. A 20-year NHL veteran, Richardson has not only played a big role on the ice, he’s meant a lot to people off the ice as well.

The tragic death of his 14-year-old daughter Daron in November 2010 touched the community. Luke along with his wife Stephanie and their daughter Morgan have worked hard for youth mental health awareness through the D.I.F.D (Do it for Daron) campaign with the Royal Ottawa hospital.

Richardson appreciates what the organization has done for him as a player, as a coach and personally.

This isn’t just another move for him or his family. Richardson grew up here, he lives in Ottawa in the off-season and former GM Bryan Murray brought him home in 2007-08 and kept him in the fold after his playing career ended in 2009.

“The organization was great with Bryan bringing me here to finish off my career in my home town,” he said. “At the end of your career, it’s just like anybody, a lot of guys move around a lot and you don’t mind doing that as a player but older players usually have older kids and there’s tougher decisions there.

“It’s harder to hang onto at the end and have that work. It made it way easier for me to do that in my home town and that was great. The opportunity to get onto a coaching staff right after you play … that’s very rare, too. There’s 700 players in the league and there’s only so many coaching jobs available.

“That was great. When this opportunity came down here, that was perfect timing and we had a lot of really good young players coming in that year with (Mark) Stone and (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau … The last three years have been great after my first year and and I owe a lot to Ottawa organization. I really value that.”

Richardson is ready for whatever is next.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter: @sungarrioch