Reports: Richards on Waivers

A pair of highly reliable sources reported that Mike Richards has been placed on waivers:

Hearing Mike Richards of LA is on waivers today. Wow.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 26, 2015

LA puts Mike Richards on waivers. Also, NJ puts Tim Sestito on waivers.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

Richards has five goals, 15 points and a minus-seven rating in 47 games, and his minutes are down 3:17 to a career-low 13:42 from last year’s average ice time of 16:59. In 704 career games, Richards, who turns 30 on February 11, has 179 goals and 481 points. The two-time Stanley Cup champion and 2010 Olympic gold medalist was acquired on June 23, 2011 as part of a trade that sent forwards Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn and a second round draft pick to Philadelphia.

Over the summer the Kings chose not to use a compliance buyout on the center, who carries a $5.75-million cap hit through the next five and a half seasons. Per the CBA, the compliance buyout, which is no longer available, would have removed Richards’ cap hit from the Kings’ books while allowing the center to recoup 2/3 of the total value of the contract.

If Richards retires before end of contract, especially in penultimate or last year, LA gets dinged with significant cap recapture penalty.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

Because CapGeek is no longer active, these cap recapture penalties are not immediately available. There’s obviously more to come on this developing story.

UPDATE, 10:20 AM:

If Richards clears waivers, sent to AHL, $925K of $5.75M cap hit comes off LA's cap. So Richards would represent $4.825M of dead cap space.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015