"Mike had some real behavior issues last year with us I felt we could not tolerate going forward," General Manager Don Maloney said. "To his credit, he has been getting help this offseason and obviously would hope he continues. But at the end of the year and all the background checking and what happened, we felt that for us to move forward, we couldn't have him a part of this team."
His previous relationship with coach Dave Tippett seemed to calm any potential worries about how he'd assimilate into this group – on and off the ice.
"We weren't naïve to some of the issues of the past, but we felt it could be manageable and managed," Maloney said. "Obviously, it was a mistake."