Mike Richards; To Be Or Not To Be A Los Angeles King

(Via @theScore)

2014

He sat down in Dean Lombardi’s office and already knew what topic Dean was going to bring up and Richards was completely prepared to talk about it.  Back when he was a Flyer, Richards had signed a 12 year $69,000,000 contract.  In the current salary cap era that meant his team would lose $5.75 million dollars worth of cap space until the year 2020.  With Richards being traded to the Los Angeles Kings, they inherited this large contract but with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement the NHL had with the NHL players association, this was the final year where teams could use a “get out of jail card” chance of dumping the contract fully from their cap, therefore freeing up necessary cap space by simply buying out the full contract and releasing the player from the team.  Fully paid, Richards would then become an unrestricted free agent and could sign another contract with whatever team he decided to sign with.

It was a logical business opportunity for the Kings to let Richards go as many other teams had already completed amnesty buyouts most notably the Tampa Bay Lightning with long time star Vincent Lecavalier and the Philadelphia Flyers with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.  The difference though between those situations and the current one between the Kings and Mike Richards, was that they had just recently won the Stanley Cup for a second time. But unlike the first time they won, when Richards was successfully centering the “second” line, Richards play, hustle and production had dramatically declined to the point that he was now the “fourth line” center.  His ice-time had decreased to career record lows.

Lombardi and Richards both laid everything on the table and talked for some time and both came out of the meeting with a mutual understanding.  Just to confirm their fears and make sure both of them were still on the same page, they had a second heart to heart meeting and the result was the same.  As the hockey media automatically assumed that Richards was guaranteed to be bought out (and why wouldn’t they make such an assumption, as the thought of the Los Angeles Kings paying $5.75 million a year for what seemed like a fading star, who was now a “fourth” liner was ludicrous and unheard of), The Kings announced that Mike Richards was staying put.  They were not using the compliance buyout option.

During the meeting Lombardi expressed his concern that Richards game had seemed to be slipping.  With Richards now in his late 20’s, Lombardi explained that the workout habits of Richards was poor and what he had gotten away with due to playing while at a young age was no longer working for Richards at his current age.  Habits had to change.  Richards agreed and promised Lombardi that he was going to intensely work out during the summer break and show up to training camp in the best shape of his life.

During that summer, Lombardi even made the trip to Richards home town of Kenora, ON (and got lost trying to find it but eventually ended up making it there) to personally work out with Richards to see how his progress was coming along?  Like a man of his word, Richards was in excellent shape and this greatly impressed and calmed Lombardi’s fear of possibly regretting to not take a chance of buying out Richards contract when he had the chance.  A chance that was now legally no longer available but Lombardi remembered why he traded for this particular warrior to begin with.  Mike Richards was the type of player that was needed for the team.  A player that helped turn a rising young team into a Stanley Cup winner.  The man himself was a winner at every level he played at and a complete team player, never once complaining about being dropped down to the “fourth line” after many years as a top 6 player.  Mike Richards was the right person for the job … but as he was driving back to the airport Lombardi wondered if Mike Richards was still able to do the job?  The Mike Richards of 2012 was very different from the Mike Richards that had played in 2014 but Lombardi quickly reminded himself of what he had just witnessed with his own eyes while working out with Richards and the positive progress that came from it.  He shook such negative thoughts out of his head, and headed for home.

2013

Mike Richards and The Kings were struggling.  The defending Stanley Cup championship team was in the process of being eliminated in the Western Conference final by the hungry Chicago Blackhawks.  Though he was leading the team in playoff points before suffering a concussion, he was struggling in the physical department by constantly being outplayed in the first 2 rounds by the opposing centers Joe Thornton and David Backes. He was losing face offs, lost too many battles for the puck, was getting bumped and shoved around almost at will and was creating too many turnovers for anyone’s liking.  To make matters worse, Richards suffered the concussion (his second as a King) and missed most of the conference Final.

The whole Los Angeles Kings team was battling through fatigue and injuries and even though they had successfully won the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, both series took a major physical toll on all of them and they were defending the Stanley Cup on almost just will power alone.  The team including Richards did not have much left in the tank but regardless he and the team were going to push through it and keep moving forward. That is what they do and that is all they know how to do.  They do not quit … ever.

In game 5, Richards was re-inserted into the roster.  Whether he was still feeling the effects of the concussion or not are still unclear but with the team against the ropes by being down 3-1 in the series, Richards didn’t want to sit helpless on the sidelines and watch the Blackhawks yank the Cup out of their bloody hands so he asked Sutter to put him back in. After being down 2-0 early in the game, the comeback (aka cardiac) Kings played their style of hockey that famously wore down the opposing teams.  The Blackhawks felt the brunt of this for the first time in the series and the Kings came back to tie things up at 2.  All that hard work was then almost for naught as the talented Blackhawks took back the lead with only 3:52 left in the game.  It appeared that the Cinderella run of the Stanley Cup champions was over.  The clock was about strike at midnight.

Technically and luckily though it wasn’t midnight, as there was still 3:52 of a game left to play and that was enough time for the possibly still concussed  Mike Richards to miraculously score to tie the game with 9 seconds left on the clock.  The Kings were still alive and they were heading for overtime.  The fact that the Kings ended up losing the game, series and Stanley Cup in double overtime of that same game is not important.  What was important was that despite the odds against a healthy and powerful Chicago Blackhawks team that was firing from all cylinders and angles, the team didn’t quit. Mike Richards was literally and physically the example that showed this determined characteristic by fighting to the very bitter end, injured or not and scoring a crucial goal when all hope seemed lost.  This vision of Richards was not lost on Dean Lombardi.  This was the very reason he traded to get Richards on his team to begin with.  He was the right man for the job.