Kings Article: Questions About Mike Richards & Prescription Drugs in the NHL

[Sheng Peng]

Nick (and Chanelle from @thxbud) addresses the silence around Richards and prescription drugs around the league:

Questions About Mike Richards & Prescription Drugs

Click to read more...

 

[Herby]

Very good article.

The quotes from Denis Gauthier about the minor league lifestyle are very true. It's a terrible way to make a living and it consists of guys chasing a dream that is not going to come for the vast majority of them. But again, when you have no education and little skills outside of hockey many are left with no choice but to play minor league hockey. It is just amazing how many kids with zero realistic chance to play in the NHL pass up full ride college scholarships to play juniors. I still for the life of me just don't get it.

But ya, getting back to minor league hockey. Not only is it long bus rides, cheap hotels and crappy pay it's also less quality medical care than you would receive in the NHL. And like Lappy says, there are many guys playing through pain to not only try and make an NHL roster, but on the flip side you have guys trying to avoid the ECHL, where the bus rides are longer, the hotels are cheaper and the pay is less.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

No doubt the treatment and pay is crappy, had one player tell me that he had to share an apartment with 3 other players. Most have to work a second job or live and train at home in the offseason just to make ends meet. It's a tough gig for those guys in the ECHL and such.

As for Mike Richards, who knows what the story is...nobody is commenting and it's a sad end. I mean As the article said, Deano really thought Richards was going to be a Bobby Clarke type guy for the Kings. I really hope Mikey is getting better mentally and physically.

 

[moosehead81]

A good article but still pretty heavy on some assumptions for which there is no current evidence, including the issue around whether MR was actually arrested for whatever it is he did.

 

[Kings4thecup]

we can find quotes like this from Predators GM David Poile:

If you don’t accept what we’re offering you, we’ve got to let you go. You’re damaging our team. You have to enter the NHLPA substance abuse program and go into rehab or we’re going to cut you, and everyone will know why.


This is very telling......

 

[Ron*]

I don't know.

Without cold hard facts and evidence, this article borders on sensationalism. You have a few players here and there in the NHL and in the minor leagues making unproved, opinionated statements without concrete proof and/or confirmation.

It just isn't enough to go on. Whatever happened to investigative reporting, where corroboration and confirmation was not only encouraged but required? This just boils down to an opinion piece.

Don't be shy and please go further and corroborate Lappy's statement, as well as other players' in the piece. Then we got an article we can sink our teeth into.

 

[Herby]

I also feel bad for Richards as a person, clearly it appears there were things other than natural physical decline that caused his career to completely collapse before our eyes.

Hockey wise, the writing was clearly on the wall after 2014, the decline started in 2013 when Richards began to look like a 3rd line center, by 2014 it was ridiculous to think he would ever be anything more than a bottom line center, if even that,

I thought Richards was a terrible hockey player these last two seasons but I wish him no ill-will and I actually hope the arbitrator rules in his favor and he gets that money and is able to retire at peace and do things that he clearly loves like being out on his boat and fishing. I don't think Mike Richards has much of a love for hockey anymore to be honest.

 

[T2M]

Very good article.

The quotes from Denis Gauthier about the minor league lifestyle are very true. It's a terrible way to make a living and it consists of guys chasing a dream that is not going to come for the vast majority of them. But again, when you have no education and little skills outside of hockey many are left with no choice but to play minor league hockey. It is just amazing how many kids with zero realistic chance to play in the NHL pass up full ride college scholarships to play juniors. I still for the life of me just don't get it.

But ya, getting back to minor league hockey. Not only is it long bus rides, cheap hotels and crappy pay it's also less quality medical care than you would receive in the NHL. And like Lappy says, there are many guys playing through pain to not only try and make an NHL roster, but on the flip side you have guys trying to avoid the ECHL, where the bus rides are longer, the hotels are cheaper and the pay is less.

To be fair, for every year they play in the CHL they get a year of Canadian university paid for. Then you can add hockey scholarships on top of that. Lots of guys go that route when they see that the writing's on the wall for their NHL dreams.

 

[tsanuri]

To be fair, for every year they play in the CHL they get a year of Canadian university paid for. Then you can add hockey scholarships on top of that. Lots of guys go that route when they see that the writing's on the wall for their NHL dreams.

There have been plenty of stories they must use that money way too quick. If they are a borderline player that thinks they might be able to make it they only have 18 months after there over age year and it's lost.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-player-agents-call-for-changes-to-chl-s-dirty-little-secret-1.222059

 

[Herby]

To be fair, for every year they play in the CHL they get a year of Canadian university paid for. Then you can add hockey scholarships on top of that. Lots of guys go that route when they see that the writing's on the wall for their NHL dreams.

Only if you "retire" at 20 and never play any pro hockey. If you play in the CHL as a 17, 18, 19 year old, give pro hockey a chance and play two seasons in the ECHL and then realize you want to go back to school, they will only cover one year.

The CHL is great at what they do for high end talent, if you are a sure fire NHL prospect you very well may be better off going that route, and in some cases you will be taken care of financially with under the table deals before you even sign a pro contract. But if you are a fringe player who is an NHL longshot and looking at a minor league career you are an idiot for passing up a scholarship to play college hockey.

Getting back to topic, my whole point of the post was to say that ofcourse there is rampant use of pain killers in minor league hockey. Even if you are making 50k a year in the AHL you will do whatever you can to stay at that level, most of these guys have literally nothing to fall back on. And that is a big problem when you basically turn 16 and 17 year old kids into "pro" hockey players.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I also feel bad for Richards as a person, clearly it appears there were things other than natural physical decline that caused his career to completely collapse before our eyes.

Hockey wise, the writing was clearly on the wall after 2014, the decline started in 2013 when Richards began to look like a 3rd line center, by 2014 it was ridiculous to think he would ever be anything more than a bottom line center, if even that,

I thought Richards was a terrible hockey player these last two seasons but I wish him no ill-will and I actually hope the arbitrator rules in his favor and he gets that money and is able to retire at peace and do things that he clearly loves like being out on his boat and fishing. I don't think Mike Richards has much of a love for hockey anymore to be honest.

For the most part I agree. I still think he gave it his all, but he was limited from his injuries. Most importantly, his concussions likely played a major part in his play. If you remember, his last concussion was probably the worst. He just wasn't the same after that, and his play really declined.

The thing that pisses me off is that some of these key guys were losing are either getting suspended, unable to resign, cost too much, have off the ice issues and we're not getting anything in return. It's killing our organizational depth and we keep tossing away 1st rounders, something Deano absolutely detested and criticized the early days of this org. Now he's doing the same thing, tossing 1st rounders aside for 16 game-1year rentals?

 

[johnjm22]

Regardless of whether you're in a minor league, or major league, playing pro sports can be tough. It's ultra competitive & hard on the body. For every guy that makes a small fortune and lives happily ever after, there's two guys that are bankrupt with physical ailments, and don't have much in the way of career/job prospects.

The fans and media praise guys that play through pain or sacrifice their body for the team. There's tons of pressure to get back from injuries. It's not hard to see how a guy could get hooked OC or other prescription meds.

 

[Fishhead]

we can find quotes like this from Predators GM David Poile:

If you don’t accept what we’re offering you, we’ve got to let you go. You’re damaging our team. You have to enter the NHLPA substance abuse program and go into rehab or we’re going to cut you, and everyone will know why.


This is very telling......

Well, it always struck me as odd that DL personally went to check on Mike's fitness. It's hard not to make the leap that it may have been more than that.

 

[evermix*]

What a joke. Richards was an ungrateful bum at the end of the day. Don't blame this on drugs, after all, he took them, not like he was forced to take them. The guy thought he was above it all, a person's attitude speaks volumes, and Lombardi gave him multiple chances. He deserves to have his contract terminated, he's nothing more than glorified bum, who thinks he can get away with anything. He was a POS in Philly too, people like that don't change. Why else would a team trade away their Captain? Welcome to reality Mike, you're nothing more than an uneducated has-been.

 

[Bondoao1]

we can find quotes like this from Predators GM David Poile:

If you don’t accept what we’re offering you, we’ve got to let you go. You’re damaging our team. You have to enter the NHLPA substance abuse program and go into rehab or we’re going to cut you, and everyone will know why.


This is very telling......

The article mentioning Poile's quote makes me think that maybe there was a problem and MR was given a last chance to clean up.

I can not wait until we have the actual facts so we can stop assuming, because the suspense is killing me.

 

[Kingspiracy]

What a joke. Richards was an ungrateful bum at the end of the day. Don't blame this on drugs, after all, he took them, not like he was forced to take them. The guy thought he was above it all, a person's attitude speaks volumes, and Lombardi gave him multiple chances. He deserves to have his contract terminated, he's nothing more than glorified bum, who thinks he can get away with anything. He was a POS in Philly too, people like that don't change. Why else would a team trade away their Captain? Welcome to reality Mike, you're nothing more than an uneducated has-been.

********, this drug use is alleged and even if true could have a negligible affect on his on ice performance. It could be that wear and tear just caught up with him. He had a couple of nasty concussions which cant have helped. Richards used to be one of the most competitive in your face athletes on ice (no mean feat for a smaller guy) that won at every level and made millions doing it, what exactly have you achieved that gives you the superiority complex?

 

[moosehead81]

********, this drug use is alleged and even if true could have a negligible affect on his on ice performance. It could be that wear and tear just caught up with him. He had a couple of nasty concussions which cant have helped. Richards used to be one of the most competitive in your face athletes on ice (no mean feat for a smaller guy) that won at every level and made millions doing it, what exactly have you achieved that gives you the superiority complex?

I'm with you- Richard's must have had sex with Evermix' partner to get him that wound up. Again, nobody can say with any certainty what it is that Richards did or was doing to cause the Kings' to terminate his license. It may well be nothing to do with the so-called border "incident" and we may all be out to lunch.

 

[417th]

Well, it always struck me as odd that DL personally went to check on Mike's fitness. It's hard not to make the leap that it may have been more than that.

Or that the team and MR had agreed on a more rigorous treatment regiment last off season. There have been a few rumors running around the lower ends that suggest as much. Probably crap but then who knows?