McKenzie: Kings' Richards "popping up" as trade possibility

Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1050 Tuesday afternoon.

As part of a discussion on the Slava Voynov salary cap situation for the Los Angeles Kings, and if it could force the Kings to make a move:

“Secondarily, even if they get cap relief, the reality is they recognize long-term at a time when they’ve got kids like Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli, who are playing so good on ‘That 70s Line’ with Jeff Carter, their contracts are up at the end of this year and they’re going to have to find some money in a real tight cap. And you saw Larry Brooks’ story in the New York Post the other day talking about how the cap may not go up at all from this year to next year.

“So Mike Richards’ name is a guy that is popping up as a potential trade possibility. Now keep in mind, he’s got five years left on his deal after this year. He’s got a cap hit of $5.75 million. He’s got one of those back-diving contracts a little bit that could put the Kings in trouble with some cap recapture. So difficult guy to trade, but that’s one of the options that they would be exploring.”

On if he has any inclination as to which team might want Mike Richards:

“Um, not off the top of my head. I don’t know that it’s along that far yet. I mean, the problem they run into is nobody wants to take on five years at 5.75.

“Now, Mike Richards is a pretty good hockey player. But, in fairness to him, he this past summer probably worked out harder and did more training and tried to get himself into a position where he could still contribute on a significant basis. So I don’t think the notion they might be prepared to part with him is necessarily performance-related as much as it is reality-related.

“And that is on a team that’s got Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Jarret Stoll as your top three centers. Do you have room for a guy making that kind of money as arguably a fourth-line center, although he kills penalties and plays the power play.”

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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