Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi already was making moves in early June to put programs in place to educate his players after Slava Voynov's domestic violence incident and Jarret Stoll's drug-related arrest in Las Vegas.
That wasn't going to be enough.
Mike Richards was arrested at the Canadian border later that month and eventually charged with possession of Oxycodone. This third blow devastated Lombardi, who once regarded Richards as the Kings' version of baseball's Derek Jeter, a heart and soul winner.
"So that hurts, particularly with a player like Michael in terms of the Jeter factor.