LA Kings settlement figures with former player Mike Richards revealed (updated)

UPDATE: A Kings spokesman on Friday confirmed the numbers are accurate.

The Kings will be paying Mike Richards for a very long time after agreeing to settle on his grievance case against the team earlier this month. Richards will be paid through 2031-32, according to figures released via Twitter on Thursday by the website generalfanager.com. Had the Kings simply bought out Richards of the remainder of his contract, they would have paid him only through 2024-25.

The Kings terminated his contract in June, citing a “material breach” in the wake of his arrest on the 17th of that month at a Canadian border crossing. He was charged by Canadian authorities in August with possession of a controlled substance, reportedly the prescription drug Oxycodone. The players union filed a grievance shortly thereafter and a settlement was announced last Friday.

According to the website, the Kings will face settlement and salary-cap recapture fees of $3.120 million this season and $1.570 million for the next four seasons. The figures dip to $700,000 for 2020-21, but never drop below the $400,000 payout in the final season of the settlement, in 2031-32.

Buying out Richards would have cost the Kings a salary-cap hit that would have been as high as $4.216,666 for 2018-19 and 2019-20. It would have been $1,216,666 for this season, the lowest figure for the term of the 10-year buyout.