LA Kings will not buyout Mike Richards

[CaptHowdy00]

I have an app called as Schnarped hockey and they just sent me the message.

 

[davnlaguna]

Kings will not buy out contract of Mike Richards - Los Angeles Times

 

[CaptHowdy00]

So it wasn't an injury and it wasn't age or his style of play. It was the fact that he did not prepair properly. If that is the case, I feel even more strongly that he should have been bought out.
But I think that I am in the minority. And Deano showed his loyalty to a player. So the question now, is where are they going to get the space to sign either Green or Mitchel and Gaborik?

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Well according to what I've read with what the expected increase to the cap is going to be the Kings will have somewhere around $13M. Gaborik and Greene or Mitchell shouldn't cost any more than that. May even leave a little wiggle room to make some moves later if they're required. If not then they may lose both Mitchell and Greene and replace them with Schultz and McNabb. Risky move but you never know.

Ox

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Based not the article; Muzzin, Taffolli, Pearson and Martinez are all do for a raise after next year. Williams is a UFA the year after that. Kopi's contract is up in 3 years.
All told that is awhile lot of wiggle room to be looking for.
I'm just worried that within 3 years this not going to be the same team.

 

[Deader2818]

No reason to buy Richards out when we can trade him if we need to.

 

[Kings4OT]

Some salaries are not easily traded. I like Richards on the club, I just hope all these big salaries don't prevent us from resigning other guys equally (or more so) important.

 

[Deader2818]

Richards doesnt have a really bad cap hit though. Its only 5.25 mil. a lot of teams would trade for him.

 

[Kings4OT]

I think that is a very big cap hit for someone that is on the 4th line. If that ends up preventing LA from resigning Williams, Kopitar or loosing Pearson/Toffoli would it be worth it? I think it made smart business sense in running a team under the cap. Im not disappointed Richards is still a King but I am dreading the future impact this could have.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

I think that is a very big cap hit for someone that is on the 4th line. If that ends up preventing LA from resigning Williams, Kopitar or loosing Pearson/Toffoli would it be worth it? I think it made smart business sense in running a team under the cap. Im not disappointed Richards is still a King but I am dreading the future impact this could have.

If his production stays what it was this year and he gets put down to the 4th line again they can just buy him out next year before that impact happens. Or maybe trade him to a team that has the cap room to take him and thinks they can regenerate his production as a top 6 forward.

Ox

 

[Kings4OT]

I thought this was the only time a team could use one of their 2 compliance buyouts without penalty or it counting against the cap. It was part of the agreement from the lockout because of the lowered salary cap and really the only reason I thought a buyout on Richards made sense.....

 

[PuckinUgly57]

I'm happy he is here, hopefully the cap hit doesn't end up burning them Having 6 years left on that deal is long time. This is also where I worry about Brown's long term deal, it's awful.

Ox, as Kings said this is the last year team's can buy out unsavory contracts and not be penalized with the cap hit. Part of the stipulation under the new CBA, any contract signed prior to Sept 15, 2012 is eligible. They were allowed two of those to be used in either summer 2013 or summer 2014.

This was a concession done for teams who signed guys to those ridiculous 12+ year contracts front loading them and having them make peanuts in the final years where retirement was an unspoken part of the agreement, and this is also led to teams not being able to give their own FAs more than 8 years on a deal or an incoming FA no more than 7.

The Kings will be able to buy him out at any time, but this point moving forward it will count against the cap. That's why this whole topic came up in the first place.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

OK. I didn't realize it was only for only 2 years. Makes more sense now why so many were ready to jettison him after only one sub-par season. I guess the trade idea is still an option if he underperforms again this next season. At $5.25M per year he shouldn't that hard to move. He is only 29.

Ox

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Well, he has steadily declined since he got here, at least statistically during the regular season so it isn't just a one year anomaly. He only had 14 points in the final 51 games last season. But his true value appears in the playoffs, and where ever he goes winning follows (except Philadelphia :::snicker snicker::.

The article's focus is on conditioning, and I'm very impressed Richards stepped up and probably said he wasn't prepared and his stats sucked. He didn't make excuses, he accepted responsibility and I have no doubt comes in to camp in much better shape.

Impressed but not surprised...that's exactly who he is, he owns his actions. The NY Rangers should have a sit down with him instead of the league and media about puck luck.

Speaking of the Flyers, there is an article on Bleacher Report (?) that follows ex-Flyers Williams, Carter, Richards and I think someone else. It breaks down the trade and why they think it happened and also what they got in return. It is a 3 part series.

Flyers fans still think they "won the trade". Keep thinking that, I'll keep my two Cup rings as a fan that all three aforementioned had such a huge part in giving me.