EDIT: Kings have indeed TERMINATED the contract of Mike Richards. More details are going to leak out in the coming day, but as far as money goes, this is no different. The Kings will still be on the hook for his payment/recapture for the moment. This does however bring up a whole slew of issues in terms of what actually was the breach? Was it conduct unbecoming? Start the rumor mill and strap in....
The NHL buyout period is underway, and will be underway until Tuesday. Teams have to place players on unconditional waivers before formally buying them out. Without surprise, Mike Richards has been placed on unconditional waivers by the LA Kings. If he is not claimed, which is highly unlikely, he will be bought out by the team.
Just a year ago, Dean Lombardi was pondering wether or not to use his compliance buyout on the former Flyer captain. Unfortunately, hindsight is going to always haunt Lombardi on this one. No offseason training regiment, managerial challenge, or AHL demotion could spark the decorated No. 10, and he will be heading elsewhere for next season.
Will it be Europe? A PTO with another NHL team? If Dany Heatley can get a one-year one-million "Show me" contract, then no doubt Mike Richards will pop up somewhere. At the end of the day though, this is a very poor and disappointing end to what was a promising early career. Was it the concussions? The Philly fallout? What altered Mike Richards? You could definitely make a case that he was never the same after dealing with his head injuires, but you could also make the case that he was simply never the same upon leaving Philidelphia. Richards carried the Flyers C with pride by what seems like all accounts, however the media pressure and scrutiny and the subsequent trade seemed to gut him. For whatever reason, the Kings never got the player they were hoping for.
You could say it was a success from the Kings standpoint, given that his inclusion in the team's center depth was key in getting them a cup. However, was his contribution not something they could have got from a player of lesser cost? Despite the struggles of Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds has gone on to a very fruitful career in the city of brotherly love, and who knows what would have been made of the 61st overall pick in 2012 (to the Stars, selecting Devin Shore).
Lombardi was loyal. Call it loyal to a fault, but he was loyal like a father was to a son who needed a second chance. Unfortunately he got burned, and now will endure the consequence of monitary discomfort in the form of recapture penalties down the line. While the initial penalties will not be so bad, down the line Richards is going to be costing the Kings around $4M a season in penalties. This will be crucial money in a crucial time. A time when players like Anze Kopitar, Bradyen McNabb, Tanner Pearson, and Tyler Toffoli will all need to be re-signed. Will the Richards non-buyout continue to haunt Lombardi down the line? Time will tell.
For Richards, it really is a sad closing up of shop for a guy who was really a heart and soul player for most of his career. For whatever reason the life did not seem to be in him these last few years. He looked like a player with one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel most nights. When the effort was there, the legs were not. When the effort was not there, that was probably the hardest part to see. The drooping of shoulders on a missed assignment, the look to the rafters on a blown scoring attempt. It was frustration, it was lack of confidence, it was disbelief, it was almost acceptance of an "I'm done" attitude it seemed like. He scored frequently enough in the AHL, but returned to the Kings for what was a lackluster and quiet stretch before the end of the season. Fitting for the most part.
Mike Richards stretch as a King is going to ultimately be remembered for the cup wins, the two rings he has, and the part he played in the dominant years of the Kings first championships. However, are we really going to ever remember Mike Richards for more than that? Will we look back on his time as a King and ultimately be satisfied? Will he? Will Lombardi?
There will not be any ceremonies, there may not even be a Legends Night for No. 10 sometime down the road. While he did not quite flame out in spectacular fashion like Tiger Woods, Lenny Dykstra, or Lance Armstrong, Richards' fall from grace in the hockey world is one of the more puzzling and disappointing in recent memory. From "The Shift" and comparisons to "Clarkie", Richards looks to be going out with a whimper. He never did live up to the billing, the contract, or the expectations. Perhaps we as fans and managers expected too much from him. Maybe Mike Richards expected too much from himself. Only he knows the answer to that.
Who knows, maybe this whole turn of events will motivate Richards to reignite his career. At 30, he is still not old by hockey standards, but he has a ton of work to do to prove himself capable in the eyes of the NHL.
Wherever he may land, best of luck to Mike Richards. As I'm sure many Kings fans will say, it was real.