Mike Richard's Contract Terminated (Not Bought Out)

[P. Marlowe 748]

The Los Angeles Kings terminated the contract of forward Mike Richards on Monday, citing a “material breach” of contract.

Richards, 30, was placed on waivers on Sunday - many believed with the Kings seeking flexibility to buy him out of the five years and $22 million remaining on his deal.

Instead, with his contract terminated, the Kings would potentially only be left with a $1.32 million salary cap recapture penalty in each of the next five seasons. Richards would not receive any of the money owed to him.

“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,” the Kings said in a statement. “We are not prepared to provide any more detail or to discuss the underlying grounds for the contract termination at this time.”

According to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams may terminate a contract if “a player shall at any time: 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” [standard Player’s Contract].

TSN.ca/nhl

A few issues:

One, if this gets the Kings out of a buyout and frees up cap room, that’s some serious finesse out of a really tight spot. With Richards’ contract off the books now (except for a salary cap recapture penalty of $1.32-million per season for the next five years) the Kings are reportedly looking into re-signing defenceman Andrej Sekera or right winger Justin Williams, and that could easily get done before an arbitration hearing addresses this unusual termination.

Two, it would have to some egregious violation for the NHLPA to stand for such a move to wipe out a guaranteed long-term contract.

Three, it would also seem that it should be a serious violation in order for the Kings to cut ties with a player when they stood firm with defenceman Slava Voynov following his domestic violence incident.

This seems like a situation destined for a courtroom and Richards has $22-million reasons to want to fight the Kings’ course of action. The NHLPA would figure to have even more.

Scott Cullen

Gossip on.

[Wings3:16 324]

I would say he either hasn't been putting the work in physically off ice, or he got into Stoll's stash....or both

[VM1138 1,921]

There are a few rumors flying around. I'll wait and see, but it must be pretty bad if the team went to this particular length to get rid of him.

[amato 3,210]

I would say he either hasn't been putting the work in physically off ice, or he got into Stoll's stash....or both

[Nightfall 871]

There are a few rumors flying around. I'll wait and see, but it must be pretty bad if the team went to this particular length to get rid of him.

As I said in the previous thread. The Kings have $22 million reasons to try this. Even if there is a glimmer of hope at getting this contract cancelled, they are going to do it. As you said, a lot of rumors flying around. Its best to wait and see. If there isn't much merit here, the NHLPA and Richards are going to have an easy time beating this in court.

[Wings_Toledo 233]

Unless he really did something horrible to justify termination of his contract then this just makes the Kings look bad. Trying to screw a player out of money to save more cap space? This is another reason why I'm not a fan of the cap in the first place.

[amato 3,210]

I agree with the wait and see thing. It might be a while though. the NHLPA has more than 22 million reasons to fight it.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Wow. Did he have sex with a pornstar on the GM's desk?

[LAWings 160]

In other articles that were out last week before the draft, Lombardi said his biggest mistake as a GM was not buying out Richards last year. Mind you this is before this big news. Dean said they had the buyout in place, but that he wanted to meet with Richards in person and look him in the eye, and against his gut he gave him a second chance. He said Richards lied to his face about making an improvement and turning things around for the upcoming season.

So maybe that's it? The material breach of contract is him lying to the GM about the steps he will take to improve and he didn't? Either that or Stoll is buying his drugs from him lol.

Here's an arcticle from January about it:

http://thehockeywriters.com/dean-lombardis-big-mistake/

Edited June 30, 2015 by LAWings

[amato 3,210]

Apparently they were in trade talks to send him to the oilers or flames when Lombardi found out about an off ice incident. He immediately told those teams and stopped trade talks, went to the league to tell them his intentions of waiving/terminating him and then did so on Sunday.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nhl/story/_/id/13169890/los-angeles-kings-terminate-contract-mike-richards

I know it's just espn but damn, I wanna know more

[ShanahanMan 473]

There are a few rumors flying around. I'll wait and see, but it must be pretty bad if the team went to this particular length to get rid of him.

What are the rumors?

[kickazz 5,459]

One rumor is he tried smuggling beer across canadian border. No sources, just blabber from other websites.

Edited June 30, 2015 by kickazz

[BottleOfSmoke 5,965]

One rumor is he tried smuggling beer across canadian border. No sources, just blabber from other websites.

Why...why would one need to smuggle beer across the Canadian border?

[kickazz 5,459]

Why...why would one need to smuggle beer across the Canadian border?

Because we all know that American beer > Canadian beer.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Why...why would one need to smuggle beer across the Canadian border?

LOL Exactly. And how would that be a termination of contract and the Stoll incident not be?

Unless they had a beer smuggling clause written in there or something

Part of me thinks that this reeks of the Kings desperately trying to rid themselves of that contract because Lombardi screwed up and didn't buy Richards out when he had the chance. Part of me thinks Richards has some serious issues that date back to his days in Philly. Pure speculation on my part, of course.

[amato 3,210]

Why...why would one need to smuggle beer across the Canadian border?

There was a big line at the beer store?

LOL Exactly. And how would that be a termination of contract and the Stoll incident not be?

Unless they had a beer smuggling clause written in there or something

Part of me thinks that this reeks of the Kings desperately trying to rid themselves of that contract because Lombardi screwed up and didn't buy Richards out when he had the chance. Part of me thinks Richards has some serious issues that date back to his days in Philly. Pure speculation on my part, of course.

Stoll's contract expired this off season.

And Lombardi has already said somewhere that he made a mistake not buying him out when he had the chance

[amato 3,210]

More details are coming to light in the Mike Richardssituation.

One day after his contract was terminated by the Kings, ESPN reported Richards is part of an “ongoing investigation” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

More:

A spokesperson for the RCMP in Manitoba told ESPN that, as of Tuesday, no charges have been brought against Richards but declined to comment further.

The source said that Canadian Border Services is also involved in the investigation, but a spokesperson declined comment, citing Canadian privacy laws.

It’s the latest in what’s been a whirlwind 24 hours.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/30/report-richards-part-of-police-investigation/

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

Wow. Did he have sex with a pornstar on the GM's desk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaqktZ8N0MQ

[Euro_Twins 4,485]

Because we all know that American beer > Canadian beer.

Lol. You can keep your swill

[LAWings 160]

Leave it to TMZ to have the latest scoop in even hockey news: Oxycodone at the border folks:

http://www.tmz.com/2015/06/30/nhls-mike-richards-nhl-notified-about-oxycodone-drama-at-canadian-border/

Putting everything into perspective, this is no joke of a drug, and chances are he's an addict. If anyone saw the documentary with Chris Nilan or read about Boogard, looks like another player needs help, seems Oxy is the how they all start.

At this point, all I ask, as a fan and a human, is that he gets some help, because he's on a highway to hell with this junk.

[jimmyemeryhunter 2,747]

Leave it to TMZ to have the latest scoop in even hockey news: Oxycodone at the border folks:

http://www.tmz.com/2015/06/30/nhls-mike-richards-nhl-notified-about-oxycodone-drama-at-canadian-border/

Putting everything into perspective, this is no joke of a drug, and chances are he's an addict. If anyone saw the documentary with Chris Nilan or read about Boogard, looks like another player needs help, seems Oxy is the how they all start.

At this point, all I ask, as a fan and a human, is that he gets some help, because he's on a highway to hell with this junk.

Let's not Jump to conclusions.

He's a hockey player, hockey players get injured quite a bit, we haven't heard whether he was prescribed the pain meds or not, and it would be irresponsible to speculate at this point.

Is he does have a problem, I hope he gets help.

But the laws about traveling with controlled substances are crazy, even when they're prescribed to you.

So slow it down.

Edited July 1, 2015 by jimmyemeryhunter

[LAWings 160]

Let's not Jump to conclusions.

He's a hockey player, hockey players get injured quite a bit, we haven't heard whether he was prescribed the pain meds or not, and it would be irresponsible to speculate at this point.

Is he does have a problem, I hope he gets help.

But the laws about traveling with controlled substances are crazy, even when they're prescribed to you.

So slow it down.

Few things, Richards has been known for a few years as a partier of the Cocaine and Ecstasy type. This has followed him from Philly, players on the ice have taunted him, and if McCarty's bio gives any indication (didn't he pop positive for marijuana 30 times in his career and still played?), then Richards has been repeatedly counciled on his situation, and that's probably what Dean Lombardi was referring to last year, about straightening out etc, and that he felt Richards lied to his face. Judging by all of this, that has been swirling around him for several years, we can probably speculate this was not an accident.

Makes more sense now this is starting to be a sobriety issue. Regarding Oxy, it is illegal to take across the border period, he would know this. Sounds like a Bob Probert situation that just so happened to be a god-send coincidence to the Kings who already were trying to dump him.

[sibiriak 84]

So a "material breach of contract" is that he no longer is allowed to cross US-Canada border?

[kickazz 5,459]

So a "material breach of contract" is that he no longer is allowed to cross US-Canada border?

Not with illicit drugs no...

Face it, he probably did something that's usually a slap on the wrist but the LA Kings used it as an opportunity to terminate the contract. Works out perfectly for them.

Edited July 1, 2015 by kickazz

[Helmethead 235]

Seems like dirty pool to me. Lombardi trying to sandbag his way out of owning up to the contract he gave Richards. If the NHLPA loses this case, it's going to open up a whole can of worms. Other GMs will try to Lou Lam their way out of bad contracts.