Speculation: Will Richards Be A King Come Next Season?

[HYORI 1963]

No matter what, paying 5.75M for a 4th line center for the next six years is not feasible. That's money you spend on a top d-man to play with Voynov, on Gaborik, on Kopitar's extension and so on. Yes I know Richards' ice time is higher than for typical fourth liners but I'd rather have one of our other centermen out there in just about any situation anyway.

After the lockout every team was given two "free" buyouts that expire this summer.

Yes, and no. First off, do we know for certain that Richards will be our 4th line center next year? Are we certain that he won't play 2C or 3C? Second, even if he were to play 4C, Richards isn't your prototypical 4C, as he plays on both ends of the special teams and has a higher skill level. So, while I agree that Richards is overpaid at almost 6M, the bigger question is will Lombardi break up the team chemistry over it?

I think from Lombardi's perspective, he's not going to be upset with Richards' salary, if the kings win the cup year after year, or at least compete for it. And there's a good chance of that happening. And like said, I'm ok with either move or no move, as I understand the particulars involved in the decision making. I just think that Lombardi's the type of guy who's going to go with what's been working, and it's apparently working with Richards as a king.

 

[Rorschach]

True 4Cs don't play on PP1 unit or pull the goalie 6-5 situations.

Richards is on the 4th line so that his line and Stoll's line can shut down the other team's top lines while Kopi and Gabby have more room to create offense. The Kings 4th line is not like the Jets' 4th line.

 

[regulate]

The vote is 100 to 9. And yet the "yes he will be bought out" vote won't let it die. Wow. Common sense people. Please demonstrate the same.

 

[Herby]

True 4Cs don't play on PP1 unit or pull the goalie 6-5 situations.

Richards is on the 4th line so that his line and Stoll's line can shut down the other team's top lines while Kopi and Gabby have more room to create offense. The Kings 4th line is not like the Jets' 4th line.

Kopitar doesn't shut down the other teams top lines? Really?

And what shutting down has the Kings fourth line done, did you happen to catch any of the last series? The fourth line was on the ice for more goals than any other line, by a significant amount.

This discussion isn't as relevant right now because the Kings are not under any serious cap issues for the next season, assuming Greene is gone and replaced by a rookie like McNabb the Kings are fine to bring everyone else back next season. But there is no other way around it, the Kings will have to shed someone to make everything work after next season. You just can't have 20+ million to centers, and have a big money goalie, big money defender and two big money wingers, there just isn't enough to go around so it's a question of who you want the Kings to have to say goodbye to, and the reason Richards is mentioned is because of the length and total salary on his contract and the role he is currently playing. The question again with MR is, if he has another terrible season can he be moved in the summer of 2015 without bringing back an equally bad contract which kind of eliminates the whole purpose of freeing up the space.

Assuming signing Toffoli, Pearson and Muzzin is a given and you don't move Richards then it's going to be impossible to re-sign Martinez and likely one of Williams and Stoll and make it fit under the cap. I would just hate to lose Martinez and Williams over money being paid to someone at our strongest position.

Fair comments to say that this is a down the road problem, but it's really not that far down the road.

 

[Herby]

The vote is 100 to 9. And yet the "yes he will be bought out" vote won't let it die. Wow. Common sense people. Please demonstrate the same.

There was a vast majority of fans on this board who were opposed to the Williams trade, who wanted to sign Brad Richards, who loved bringing in Ryan Smyth. The fans aren't always right.

We will see what happens, like I said it all comes down to next summer and what kind of trade value MR would have if he has another terrible season, the Kings absolutely have to shed salary before July 1st 2015 to keep this team together (do you agree?) and I still think he is the prime candidate to be that guy.

 

[Omni Owl]

Swap Richards for Kesler? Hahhh, I know that'd never happen, and we'd have to add a piece anyways...

 

[kenito7]

True 4Cs don't play on PP1 unit or pull the goalie 6-5 situations.

Richards is on the 4th line so that his line and Stoll's line can shut down the other team's top lines while Kopi and Gabby have more room to create offense. The Kings 4th line is not like the Jets' 4th line.

When is the last time he played on PP1? Sutter likes to play his Centers on pull
the goalie 6-5 situations, they are better at faceoffs. Actually Kopitar played the
top line against the Hawks, Ducks and Sharks.
No question Richards does some good things but does that mean you can afford to
pay a 3rd or 4th line center 5.75 million? I do not think you can. Since this is the
last year for a compliance buy out I think you must at least consider it. His trade
value could not be that high with 34 million and 6 years left on his contract. If you
do not buy him out and he has another year like this one he has no value at all.

 

[Johnny Utah]

He is done. Andreoff is a perfect 4th line center. Stoll has been rejuvenated during these playoffs and a huge face-off and physical force. I can see the Kings re-signing him until Shore is ready...

I don't see the Kings going with Kopitar, Carter, Stoll and Richards next year.

I don't see them going with Kopitar, Carter, Stoll, and Vey either. Kings need a Colin Fraser type player on the 4th line. That is Andreoff. He is meaner, tougher and has skills.

 

[kingsfan]

Since the Olympics 45GP 6G 8A -6. The only Kings forward with a worse+/-
is T. Lewis. Lewis is also the only forward to score less than Richards, Stoll
scored 14 points also. For Mike Richards cap hit of 5.75m you get Stoll, Lewis and
Clifford with 100k left over.
If Mike Richards is your 3rd or 4th line center you need to use the compliance
buyout or trade him. No team can afford 5.75 million for a 3rd or 4th line center.
The cap hit may not effect the Kings in 2015 but in 2016 they have UFA Stoll,
Williams and Martinez and RFA Clifford, Pearson, Toffoli, Nolan, Muzzin and Jones.

Stoll will likely walk (IMO), only Toffoli and Muzzin will see much of a pay increase and the cap will have jumped a fair bit by 2016. If it goes up $5 million this of-season and next it'll be at $74.3 million by 2016. It's not as big of a problem right now as you may think.

Swap Richards for Kesler? Hahhh, I know that'd never happen, and we'd have to add a piece anyways...

I'd puke. Let the tumbleweed go someplace else

 

[KingKopitar11*]

I think DL might actually consider doing something with Richards this year, just because of his contract.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Is it me or are some people really just over thinking this whole cap situation? Did a quick look on capgeek. Assuming Gaborik re-signs at $6M, Mitchell at $3M, King at $1.2M and McNabb at $1M, the Kings still have almost $2M in cap space with a complete lineup with no holes to fill on the roster.

In 2015, the contracts of Stoll, Williams, Regehr and Martinez will be up and they will all be UFAs. RFAs will be Toffoli, Pearson, Muzzin, Jones, Clifford and Nolan, and we don't know how high the cap ceiling will be by that time.

Richards will be in the opening lineup in 2014-15. We just don't know exactly where in the lineup he will be penciled in.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/...ly-reward-is-winning/comment-page-1/#comments

 

[Reclamation Project]

If the Kings lost to San Jose in the first round, that would have been the likeliest scenario where Richards would have been dealt with. As of now, I don't see him going anywhere.

 

[BigBrown]

I just feel it needs to be addressed this off season because of the compliance buyout window. If we wait another year and he has another season like this we're even less likely to find a trade partner. And that's not even considering the possibility of him getting even worse which would force the Kings to buy him out leaving them with a 1.2-4.1M cap penalty for the next ten years. Ten years!

So there's one good reason. Here's another. 5.75 mil a year and contributing little but leadership and minutes, when one could have something like a quality top 4 d-man to play with Doughty or Voynov instead. Oh and guess what we need money for next summer? Extensions for Kopitar, Muzzin, Toffoli, Pearson, Williams, Stoll and Jones. Yes the cap is likely going up but that's a huge chunk of money, especially when Muzzin, Toff, Jones and Pearson are on such bargain deals right now. I'd rather lose Richards than any one of those.

So don't say we're just hating on the guy, there's some thought and reason behind this. He had a rotten regular season and at best he's been alright in the playoffs. I'd put his contributions about on par with Trevor Lewis, whom I admittedly love so I feel I'm being generous with that assessment, but Lewis is at least being paid the proper amount for what he's doing and doesn't look exponentially worse for every year.

 

[Omni Owl]

I just feel it needs to be addressed this off season because of the compliance buyout window. If we wait another year and he has another season like this we're even less likely to find a trade partner. And that's not even considering the possibility of him getting even worse which would force the Kings to buy him out leaving them with a 1.2-4.1M cap penalty for the next ten years. Ten years!

So there's one good reason. Here's another. 5.75 mil a year and contributing little but leadership and minutes, when one could have something like a quality top 4 d-man to play with Doughty or Voynov instead. Oh and guess what we need money for next summer? Extensions for Kopitar, Muzzin, Toffoli, Pearson, Williams, Stoll and Jones. Yes the cap is likely going up but that's a huge chunk of money, especially when Muzzin, Toff, Jones and Pearson are on such bargain deals right now. I'd rather lose Richards than any one of those.

So don't say we're just hating on the guy, there's some thought and reason behind this. He had a rotten regular season and at best he's been alright in the playoffs. I'd put his contributions about on par with Trevor Lewis, whom I admittedly love so I feel I'm being generous with that assessment, but Lewis is at least being paid the proper amount for what he's doing and doesn't look exponentially worse for every year.

Well said, 5.75 million a year is a hefty price for what a guy like Richards brings now. Its pretty sad, I never thought there'd be a day where Stoll would outplay Richie, but here we are. I wouldn't want to lose any of our young talent just because DL chose to keep paying a guy who'll at best be a 40 point player (if we're lucky).

 

[HYORI 1963]

I find it interesting that in the early part of the season, when Richards was playing very well, he was basically an "untouchable". I remember a certain thread where posters were saying that they wouldn't trade him for an Ovechkin or anyone else for that matter. And now we're talking about a potential buyout.

 

[Twin]

Richie hasnt been performing like he used to so i wouldnt doubt if this topic is a main concern for the organization.

 

[MsMeow]

So of the more vocal people who want him bought out, how many of those were fans of Simmonds/Schenn? I'm thinking at least 2. I think that's how a lot of this talk got started.

As far as whether he's a 2nd, 3rd or 4th line centre, on the Kings it doesn't matter that much because they roll four lines. Even when Sutter went to 3 lines he was still putting Richards on Carter's wing every other shift. Do you think he'd do that with Stoll - who I like a lot, by the way. Richards still plays PP and PK and Sutter trusts him. I'd much rather have an overpaid 3rd/4th line centre that gives the team a ton of depth than to have a traditional 4th line centre that just fills in and hopes for the best. Winning a Cup again (and again) is all that matters.

There is also a good chance he signed the contract front loaded because he plans to retire before it ends. Many other contracts are structured this way. So we may be looking at 4 more years, not 6, and if the cap keeps going up it might not be an issue. They could even put him in the AHL if he's really bad and won't retire, couldn't they? He doesn't have a NMC or NTC now.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Kings should consider trading him now because he still holds some value. If they hold onto him past the age of 30 and this gets worse, we could be in trouble.

Teams like Toronto and Calgary may want his leadership and Kings will just need to take back a contract or picks.

 

[Scottkmlps]

Swap Richards for Kesler? Hahhh, I know that'd never happen, and we'd have to add a piece anyways...

Kesler doesn't want to come to L.A. anyways. The Kings weren't on his 10 team list. The Ducks were though.
With that, Richards isn't going anywhere. It doesn't matter how many fans want him gone, or wish he was going, Dean isn't going to get rid of him. There really isn't any need to.

 

[Scottkmlps]

Richie hasnt been performing like he used to so i wouldnt doubt if this topic is a main concern for the organization.

With Lombardi, I bet this isn't a concern at all. Lombardi values what Richards not only brings to the team but also to the game.

 

[Herby]

With Lombardi, I bet this isn't a concern at all. Lombardi values what Richards not only brings to the team but also to the game.

But doesn't he also value what Stoll and Williams bring to the team? Don't they value the development and growth of guys like TT and Pearson? It all comes down to money, and unfortunately the salary cap hurts successful teams, it kind of sucks but that's the way it is.

Scott, if it came down to keeping Stoll and Williams on the bottom six for $7.5 million or Richards and a Manchester player for $6.5 what would you prefer?

 

[HYORI 1963]

Lets try something, what do you think the following players will be earning on their next contract if it's with the Kings.

Muzzin
Martinez
Toffoli
Pearson
Stoll
Williams
Regehr

I'll answer after you.

Here you go herbert. Go at it!

 

[Scottkmlps]

But doesn't he also value what Stoll and Williams bring to the team? Don't they value the development and growth of guys like TT and Pearson? It all comes down to money, and unfortunately the salary cap hurts successful teams, it kind of sucks but that's the way it is.

Scott, if it came down to keeping Stoll and Williams on the bottom six for $7.5 million or Richards and a Manchester player for $6.5 what would you prefer?

I don't make the decisions for the LA Kings. I trust Lombardi to do that, and he will fit everyone in, including Richards. The Kings cap situation isn't going to be hindered by keeping Richards, or Stoll, or Williams.
Richards isn't going anywhere because players like Greene and Fraser come off the books. That leaves Lombardi $13 mill (if the cap goes to the expected $71 mill) to sign Gaborik, who I believe has already inked a deal, Mitchell, and King (who I believe they should just let go because they have players who can do what he does just as well as he does).
Lombardi and the Kings are looking to contend year after year after year, and Richards gives them that chance to do so. The guy is a winner. He had a great 1st half and a bad 2nd half. It was only the 2nd half that people started to harp on him. I remember posts that were calling him the Kings best center in the 1st half. The Richards hate has just got out of control. It's gone along well with the Voynov bashing though.

 

[Herby]

Sorry I forgot to do this last week...



Muzzin- 4 years, 14 million

I believe the growth will continue through next season and he will get a significant increase. I think he is better than Nick Leddy ($2.7 mill), Jared Spurgeon (2.7), Kevin Klein ($2.9 mill). Who all signed deals when the cap was lower than it will be when Muzzin is a FA.

Martinez- 4 years, 13-14 million

This might be a bit high for Martinez, but someone will give this to him, he is still going to only be 28 and hitting UFA with likely multiple championships under his belt. This year he has proven to be a big game player who has logged many key minutes and made many key plays on this years run.

Toffoli - ???

I fully expect Tyler Toffoli, if he is given 2nd line icetime and PP icetime to score 25+ goals next season and eventually develop into a 30+ goal guy every season, he has great hands and a Robitaille like sense in the offensive zone to find space in prime areas, I have no doubt in my mind that this is a future star player. So the question is what is the going rate for a 22 year old 25+ goal scorer (with tons of room to grow) with a quickly developing two-way game who also has a SC ring. I just fear that with all these long term contracts the Kings have on the roster and the issues with fitting everyone in that TT would be a prime candidate to be offer sheeted and then that is when the numbers get silly. A team like Vancouver who has had an awful time developing it's own young players could make a big offer, even if the Kings matched it (and they would) it then puts us in an even bigger hole.


Pearson 2 years, 2.3 million

I like Pearson although I don't think he is quite as dynamic as TT will be. I think he plays well next season as the 2nd line lw and compromises on a shorter term deal with the anticipation that he cashes in big a couple of years after that.

Stoll 3 years, 9.6 million

Very similar to what he has now. Stoll has been very solid in these playoffs, and he fits better in the Kings system that he would elsewhere. I think maybe someone looking for a third line centerman who can win faceoffs and has championship experience could offer closer to $4, but I think Stoll is happy in LA and the Kings are happy with him.

Williams 3 years, $14 million

And I'm pretty sure if the Kings do decide to keep Richards that this is the guy they might lose. Williams has built quite the reputation around the league in the last few years. Someone out there who thinks they are missing that one key veteran could decide to overpay for him

Regehr 2 years, 6 million

Similar to what we have going now with him. They could also cut him loose and bring in someone of the same caliber for about the same $3 million. But it will be very interesting to see what happens, as of now only Doughty and Voynov are signed beyond next season.