Apparently Mike Richards Had His Contract Terminated For An Issue That Arose Crossing The Border

Yahoo Sports-  Melnick: “Somebody in the know is telling me something happened with Mike Richards at a border crossing.”

Pierre: “Correct … I’m not going to talk about it until it’s made public. I have a pretty good idea of what’s happened.”

Melnick: “So the information I have, you can confirm that?”

Pierre: “Your information is probably pretty accurate.”

Earlier, ESPN.com said it was because of an ‘off-the-ice incident’ the team was made aware of Friday.

Several sources told ESPN.com the Kings were made aware of the situation Friday, approximately an hour after the first round of the 2015 NHL draft had begun.

The Kings announced they put Richards on unconditional waivers Sunday. He cleared, and a regular buyout was expected. At the time it seemed like LA was acknowledging a mistake from the prior summer by not using a compliance buyout on Richards, who hadn’t notched more than 44 points in a season with the Kings since his trade to LA in 2011.

Then the team announced the termination of the deal.


Never change Mike Richards, never change. If you had asked me yesterday what the odds were that Richards contract termination was due to drugs I would have given you a solid 75% chance. With news that this occurred at the border I am upping that to about 99.9%. I'll leave .1% wiggle room on the off chance that he was smuggling a stripper back in his trunk. Other than that, can't really think of too much that can happen at a border crossing that could cause you to lose $25+ million dollars. Part of me needs to know if it was the Canadian border or the Mexican border, but the other part of me knows that with Mikey Rich is doesn't even matter. 

Take this as a lesson NHL players. It's okay to abuse drugs and alcohol. In fact, it's okay to abuse drugs and alcohol and transport them over the border. Just don't do so when your employer is begging for a reason to get rid of you. You think the Kings would terminate the contract of Richards' butt buddy Jeff Carter if he got caught bringing narcotics over the border? Hell no they wouldn't. Jeff Carter is capable of scoring 30 goals a year, not languishing between the 4th line and the AHL while making over $5 million dollars a year. Shit, if I were a member of the Kings staff I would have planted the drugs on him and notified border patrol. They should have been able to terminate his contract on the grounds that he has been stealing from the organization for years. I just can't feel bad for a guy that gets busted for drugs when he was one low-key weekend from getting traded or bought out. Hope that crazy weekend in Tijuana or Toronto was worth it. How many lines of blow off a stripper's ass can you buy with 25 million? Probably should have pushed that trip back a week Mikey. 

How much do the Kings hate Mike Richards? I don't have the best long term memory, but I can't remember a time when an NHL team just took a contract, ripped it up, and flushed it down the toilet. An NHL franchise treated a $69 million dollar contract like a contract that you and your friends draw up on a cocktail napkin at the bar while agreeing to get ass tattoos. Just threw it right in the garbage and refused to even acknowledge it's existence. The Kings just willingly subjected themselves to years of legal issues with the NHLPA just to get rid of Mike Richards. Even Rick Dipietro got a buyout, and he played like 10 games during a 15 year contract. There in lies the difference. Dipietro knew he was a thief and therefore he knew all he had to do was avoid getting fired, and Mike Richards is it too much of a booze bag to even do that. It's like a teacher molesting a 5th grader 10 minutes before he gets tenure. Just too damn stupid to be financially secure. Somebody grab Mike another bottle, it's going to be a long summer...