A Thank You and Possible Farewell to Some Los Angeles Kings Heroes

Mike Richards

Oh boy. It feels like I already said farewell to “Richie” a few times yet here we are again. We all know his story. He came to LA in a huge trade in 2011. He was very instrumental in the Los Angeles Kings winning their first Stanley Cup in 2012. Was still a contributing force in 2013. Started declining in 2014 and was dropped to the “fourth” line during the Kings second Stanley Cup run and victory. He looked like a prime candidate for the Kings to use their compliance buyout before that opportunity expired at the start of the 2014-15 season.

A lot of us cheered in the summer of 2014 when it was announced that Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi was not going to use the buyout option on Richards after having at least two heart to heart meetings with him during the summer, where Richards promised he was going to work out hard and get his slowing body and game back up to snuff.

Richards seemed to have kept his promise and seemed in tremendous shape at the start of the season but whether Richards’ body was already past the point of not being able to play his usual big man’s game with his 5”11 and 190 pound frame like he was able to do his entire career or Richards just mentally didn’t have the passion or heart anymore to push himself through the grind of the regular season, Lombardi’s decision to keep Richards (and his $5.75 million per year contract) instead of using his last opportunity to cleanly buy him out is now looking like a disaster.

A lot of us were sad but understood when Richards was sent down to the minors and shocked when he easily passed waivers because no other team wanted to take a chance with him and his contract but we were all happy for him when we heard he was being productive and successful in the AHL. A lot of us cheered again when Richards was called back up and suited up for the Kings, hoping that he would make a Hollywood style comeback and save the day (season). Instead, we watched Richards return, only to have the same disappointing results and then become a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. He wasn’t even dressed for the last game of the season even though the Kings were officially already out of a playoff spot and it wouldn’t hurt them one way or another if he played. How the mighty have fallen.
If we were not sure before, it is as clear as day now that Mike Richards is simply just past his prime. It’s not that he doesn’t care anymore and it’s not that he isn’t trying his best out there but he simply just can’t play that hard style anymore. Like Regehr, he just physically can’t. Richards has to adjust his game now (if that’s even possible) while he’s still young enough to do so (he is only 30). So far nothing has happened except sadly show his never-ending struggle and consistent decline. It’s been a downward spiral that none of us expected to happen to him so soon.

The Kings now have 3 options with Richards. They can keep him (and his contract) but with his poor play looking like it’s only going to get worse and his too large of a contract preventing the Kings from re-signing possibly more productive players, Richards is just too expensive for someone who isn’t contributing regularly on the ice anymore.

The Kings can trade him but that already has been proven difficult as Lombardi has been trying that for some time now but with his value dropping to its lowest levels, any trade the Kings do make will not provide the Kings with anything they can actually use right away, except for “maybe” dumping his salary onto someone else’s lap but even that is iffy. It’s looking more like the other team’s that do have interest in Mike Richards, are not willing to take on his full salary and contract so even if the Kings do trade him to another team, they may have to still pay for a large chunk of his remaining contract! (DOH!)

The third option is the Kings can still buy him out completely to just get him off the roster and free up a roster spot for someone else (like Nick Shore) but there will be a penalty from the NHL in doing so which will also still effect the cap space and end up hurting the Kings in some form. There are no easy answers to solve this mess and all of them seem rather cold for a player that means so much to the Kingdom. In a perfect world (or a Hollywood scripted one) Richards would rise back up and complete the ultimate comeback with the Kings but sadly and realistically, that doesn’t seem at all possible. More than likely Mike Richards’ days as a Los Angeles King have come to a shockingly heartbreaking end but I have said this before and have been proven wrong.

But if indeed this IS good-bye then I want to say farewell and thank you Mike Richards for teaching the Kings how to become warriors and leaders. Without you, I truly believe we would NOT have won that first Stanley Cup in 2012 and therefore would NOT have gone on to win the Cup again in 2014.

Thank you for the Gordie Howe hat-trick you scored (a goal, an assist and a fight) against the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the 2012 play-offs and thank you for back dropping a Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyote player right off the hop during a face off of a tense game 1 of the Western Conference Final that same year.

Thank you for scoring with 9 seconds left (from a face off won by Jarret Stoll) against the Chicago Blackhawks in game 5 of the 2013 Western Conference Final when all hope seemed lost but your relentless determination and perseverance (all while you were probably still concussed) kept the Kings alive and stay in the vicious dog fight.

Thank you for the interception you caught against the panicked New York Ranger defenseman Dan Girardi in Game 1 in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final and the quick (not Jonathan) thinking you displayed by instinctively passing that puck to Justin Williams who went on to score the game winner in overtime. You Mike Richards, are a major reason why the Kings became respectable and Cup contenders in the first place which led them to become Cup Champions. The ending of your time in Los Angeles turned out to be an unsuspected heartbreak for everyone involved but the memories and the moments you left behind will never be forgotten. You will always have a home in our hearts forever and always. Thank You.