Flyers Captain Richards Traded To Kings
Added on Jun 24, 2011 by J Merrill in
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When Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers signed a 12 year deal in 2007 he thought he would have a home there for a long time, but thats not how it played out. After a phone call from his agent, the Flyers’ captain found out he would be playing for the Los Angeles Kings in a few months.
Richards said after the news was released, “I was very shocked when I got a call this afternoon from my agent, just kind of giving me the rundown on what he knew. I actually found out about it on the Internet a few minutes before I was able to get the confirmation from my agent about it. At first I was shocked, then I was excited.”
Richards, who had 23 goals and 66 points for the Flyers this season and is regarded as one of the better centers in the league, didn’t come cheap. He was traded for highly regarded prospect Brayden Schenn, young forward Wayne Simmonds and a second-round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft. Richards said he loved playing in the city of Philadelphia, but he was looking forward to playing in LA. He said “I’m excited to go out to L.A. and be part of a team that that has a ton of great players, and I’m looking forward to helping them out.”
Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi said he had been keepin an eye on Richards for years now, and that he knew him when he was working in the Flyers front office. He said “It’s been a pretty hectic four weeks. The issue of possibly acquiring him was broached about four weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how sincere the Flyers were, or what it was going to cost.” Lombardi continued “There has to be two things: The timing has to be right, and it has to be the right player. I think it’s fair to say that when I found out this player was available, there was no doubt in my mind, given what I know about his character and competitiveness.”
Richard’s said his final conversation with Flyers GM Paul Holmgreen got emotional during the short talk. He said “Paul and I have got along extremely well during my six years there. It wasn’t a long conversation, but I just thanked him for giving me the opportunity to play with them and to be a Flyer and live in Philadelphia for six years. I think we were both a little emotional, so it wasn’t a long conversation. It was one I didn’t think I was ever going to have to do.” Richards concluded “Nobody likes to be traded, but I feel like I’m going to a team where there’s a good chance that we’re going to have success there, and we have good players in position and a good organization. Hopefully we can take that next step together, and I just want to be there and help out any way possible.”
Lombardi said he knew Richards would be emotional about leaving his squad, and thats one of the reasons he knew he had to have him. He said “I think (Richards) was emotional about being traded. If you’ve got a guy who’s excited about being traded, generally that’s not the guy you want. You want the guy who wears the jersey on his sleeve, who wears his heart on his sleeve. I know this had to be hard on him — very few players ever commit to a contract like he did for that term, showing his loyalty. If we can get that here in L.A., that’s exactly what we need.”
