On June 29th, the Los Angeles Kings were faced with a difficult decision. They were no longer using forward Mike Richards on a regular basis, and passed on a compliance buyout the year before. Richards was sent down to the AHL in mid-march and did not return to the team full-time.
On draft day, the Kings were given some troubling news, something they thought was too far gone to fix and they decided to terminate Richards' contract. Although the NHLPA will likely have the ruling overturned, the hockey community was baffled as to what Richards could have done for the Kings to immediately sever ties.