Los Angeles Kings vs Mike Richards, The War Begins

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: July 2, 2015

It was draft day and Los Angeles Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi was in high spirits after pulling a surprise trade with the Boston Bruins for power forward Milan Lucic. Next on the agenda was to see if any GM here attending the draft would be interested in talking about trading for Mike Richards?

Lombardi and the Kings had been actively shopping around the NHL to find suitors that could unload the experienced but failing Richards from the Kings hands and salary cap. With Richards’ deteriorating skills and intimidating 5 year remaining $22 million ($5.75 million a season) contract, suitors were hard to find but Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli and Calgary Flames’ GM Brad Treliving were willing enough to at least sit down with Lombardi (separately of course) at the draft and discuss the possibility of it.

If no trade was possible than the next logical step for the Kings was to place Richards back on waivers to see if anyone would pluck him from there (which they tried last year but nobody did) but really it was for Richards to clear waivers so they could legally buy out his contract and release him from the team.

Lombardi had this opportunity at the end of last season when the new CBA allowed teams to have 2 amnesty buyouts where a contract could be bought out fully and the team wouldn’t face any penalties for it. The closing window for this opportunity of a lifetime ended by the end of the summer of 2014. Worried about the team’s salary cap inching closer and closer to the Cap ceiling (and with Anze Kopitar‘s contract extension coming up after the next season) Lombardi thought long and hard about Richards, his diminishing role on the team and his monstrous, team hand-cuffing contract.

Then the Kings had just won their second Stanley Cup in 3 seasons and Richards played a part in it (more so in 2012 than 2014) so after some heart to heart meetings in private with Richards, Lombardi decided to stay loyal to his player and declined to use the compliance buyout. The deadline for the amnesty buyouts came and went and Mike Richards was still a King. Loyalty is a strong and important factor to Lombardi, but this would come back to bite and haunt him.

Buying out Mike Richards the old-fashioned way would give the Kings some relief on the cap but not as much as they really needed. The first year post buyout would only cost the Kings $1.22 million of cap space in the beginning but as the years go on, the penalty would have raised as high as $4.2 million a year. This is a frightening thought as no one can predict that far ahead how high or low that year’s NHL salary ceiling will be at? The final payment to Mike Richards would be a lower $1.47 million in the year … 2025! That’s a long time to be paying for someone who isn’t on your roster anymore and hadn’t been in a very long time! All those yearly payments would count on the Kings’ cap meaning that depending where the Kings are with their cap space and how high the League’s Cap ceiling would be in 2025, Richard’s contract possibly could still be hurting to Kings’ to sign or re-sign players due to the lack of cap space while Richards had already long retired.

On Friday, June 26 while talking to the Edmonton and Calgary GMs about trading Mike Richards to them, Lombardi received some disturbing and interesting news that now changed the whole game in regards to Richards. Lombardi informed both of the GMs what he had just found out and this immediately closed any possible deals with those teams concerning Mike Richards (not that the talks were close to sealing the deal but still). Lombardi was no longer in high spirits.

The next day on Saturday, it was announced that Richards had been placed on waivers (again) for the possibility of a buyout. Then on Sunday, the hockey news around the world was heard. The Los Angeles Kings didn’t buyout Mike Richards but instead TERMINATED his contract! This was unprecedented for the NHL.

The official word from the Kings organization was released immediately ;

“The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team’s right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player’s Contract. We are not prepared to provide any more detail or to discuss the underlying grounds for the contract termination at this time.”

No team can just terminate a contract at will, especially if the possible real reason is the need to create more cap space. The team would need to have just cause and obviously the Kings felt they did because something had happened with Mike Richards but what? Whatever Richards did just allowed Lombardi to think of and use a barely known 3rd option in the CBA. Contract termination.

Section 2(e) of the SPC, states a player agrees “to conduct himself on and off the rink according to the highest standards of honesty, morality, fair play and sportsmanship, and to refrain from conduct detrimental to the best interest of the Club, the League or professional hockey generally.”

When that doesn’t happen, the contract with the player can be terminated if ;

(a) fail, refuse, or neglect to obey the Club’s rules governing training and conduct of Players, if such failure, refusal or neglect should constitute a material breach of this SPC.

(b) fail, refuse or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any other manner materially breach this SPC.

With Richards’ contract fully terminated, the Kings now only have a more manageable cap penalty of $1.32 million a year for 5 years. That’s it. That’s a loophole and a half but only if Lombardi and Kings can get away with it. Richards would really have had to screw up royally and legally for this to be just cause for the Kings. Just having Richards playing poorly and being out of shape are not legit “just cause” reasons for his contract and the money still owed to him to disappear in smoke. There had to be more to this and surely the NHLPA were going to get involved and back Richards to get in on this fight.

The NHLPA released this after the news broke out that Richard’s contract was terminated ;

“We are in the process of reviewing the facts and circumstances of this matter, and will discuss the situation with the player in order to determine the appropriate course of action.”

In other words, this was War! The NHLPA will do everything in their power to not let the Kings win this as this would open up the possibilities for more NHL GMs to attempt this hidden loophole.

The NHLPA has up to 60 days to file a grievance against the Kings for terminating the contract and this would lead to the two oppositions to face off with an independent (not Gary Bettman or anyone else in the NHL) arbitrator.

In cases like these, the arbitrators tend to lean with the players. Examples of this happened to MLB in 1987, 2004 and 2005. Those cases involved a MLB player charged with an illegal activity and their teams trying to terminate their contracts but failed. Arbitrators tend to feel that regardless of the crimes committed by the players, they should still receive the contracted money that is owed to them. People do still need to make a living.

In 2006, MLB did win a case when a player physically attacked his manager. The MLBPA appealed it but lost and the contract was terminated so it IS possible the Kings can win this. At first sight, this just seemed like Lombardi and the Kings were trying to just get out of paying Richards the money that was owed to him so they could free more cap space up for them. How dare they!

But then this happened.

On Tuesday, June 30th, TMZ broke the news (which was then confirmed by Sportsnet, TSN and the Winnipeg Sun) that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were investigating Mike Richards for alleged possession of a restricted substance while crossing the American-Canadian border into the province of Manitoba on June 17th. This was the information that Lombardi received at the draft and why Lombardi broke off possible trade talks concerning Richards and exercised the little known 3rd “termination” option.

Allegedly the restricted substance Richards had on him was the heavy painkiller OxyContin. The authorities allegedly had Richards detained for 4 hours while searching his car but didn’t charge him with anything on the spot. The RCMP do still have an ongoing investigation but aren’t saying more than that as of this writing. How much OxyContin did Mike Richards have on and with him is currently unknown?

OxyContin is illegal in Canada without a prescription from a doctor. Anyone crossing the Canadian border with “Oxy” and without a proper prescription can be charged under the Criminal Code’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act or with smuggling under the Canada Customs Act. Allegedly, Richards was without a prescription (some rumors say that he had a forged prescription but rumors are only rumors) but only time will tell what is true and what is not.

Worst case scenario for Richards is that he gets charged where he could face an NHL suspension and possible prison time. This could give the Kings a better chance to be allowed to terminate the contract without much of a fight. Best case scenario for Richards, is that he doesn’t get charged and wins the appeal against the Kings. The Kings then will have to pay what they owe to Richards (which is the worst case scenario for the Kings). I even heard a crazy third scenario where both sides can get what they want but it’s too crazy to say in detail here. I’m holding that one close to my chest … for now.

Both Dean Lombardi and Mike Richards are taking big gambles with their careers and reputations here. This is going to get very, very ugly.

Having the RCMP investigating you is serious business. Equal in many ways to the FBI having their eye on you in the United States. Whatever the outcome of this investigation, guilty or not, I really hope that Mike Richards doesn’t ruin his career and/or life over this. If the allegations are true, then Richards made a horrible decision at the worst possible time. There is no good time to be investigated by any authorities but if this happened later (or the news of it was found out later) then Richards would’ve still had his money from being bought out. Having a possible charge of drug smuggling and giving the Kings a reason and excuse to terminate his contract because of it before the buyout window closed will negatively affect his career, life and financial situation. Of course the smartest action would’ve been to not cross the border with any illegal substances at all. I really hope he can find a way to bounce back in some healthy form. I do believe Richards wanted to make things work out with the Kings but his personal issues may be deeper than him just losing his foot speed on the ice. If he does have a drug problem (painkillers) I truly hope he finds the help he needs.

There are not many general managers in the NHL or in sports quite like Dean Lombardi. That is because his big heart and loyalty to his players is stronger than all the rest of them. If Lombardi had used the compliance buyout when he had the chance last year, the Kings would not have been in this salary cap mess … BUT Lombardi probably would not have been able to sleep very well at night from feeling guilty for betraying Richards after he had helped win them another Stanley Cup. He needed to talk with Richards man to man and by looking him in the eye. Richards convinced him that he was going to pick up his game and get in the best shape of his life and Lombardi believed him. He believed him because he had faith in him. That’s the type of man Dean Lombardi is. Richards did come into training camp in better shape but he had an even more miserable and horrible year, the worst of his career. It was so bad that Richards played a large chunk of it in the minor league AHL. Now there could be legal troubles as well. Being too loyal ending up hurting Lombardi and the Kings.

Katie Strang of ESPN.com recently asked Lombardi if he had any regrets now for not using the amnesty buyout on Richards in 2014? He answered,

“It could be the worst decision I ever made … but for all the right reasons. In a cap world, you can’t have any heart and soul. I struggle with that.”

If the Kings do end up successfully terminating Richards’ contract it would be an enormous victory to the other GMs of the NHL but only considered a bittersweet victory for Lombardi and the Kings. Sometimes victories aren’t victories at all but that is life, especially in the business of sports. Despite everyone’s best intentions, sometimes things do happen to fall apart and sometimes things get ugly. Sometimes people make the wrong decisions. Whether it’s the Kings winning this war or Mike Richards winning it, either way this is a very sad ending to Mike Richards’ career as a Los Angeles King (and possibly an ending to his career period). So sad that it may give Lombardi some sleepless nights for some time. This war will have no winners.

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