Los Angeles Kings: More to the Decline of Mike Richards

Mike Richards was recently formally charged for possession of a controlled substance. Not great news. But it is news. And rather than getting into all the details about the charge, I want to go at a different angle. I’d like to consider what really happened with the downward spiral of Mike Richards career. A player who was once atop the league slowly deteriorated into a 4th line center.

There are lots of questions about why this happened to Richards. Maybe it was lack of effort. Or changing of line mates. Or just the fact that he’s gotten older. With age comes less productivity.

But I think there is more to it that hasn’t been discussed. And I’ll break it down to one word:

Concussions.

Richards has always played as a two-way, gritty forward. Although he’s smaller in stature (5’11”), that never kept him from engaging fully in a game. Whether it was making a sweet pass, big hit, or fighting a guy 6 inches taller than him – Mike was up for the task. He gave it his all. And we all admire him for that.

But with that style of game comes consequences. You get beat up. Your body takes the toll. And sometimes it’s your brain that takes the toll. And an injured brain changes everything.

There isn’t public documentation about how many concussions Richards has had in his career. But I’d venture to say he’s probably had more than are documented among doctors. That being said, I’d like to take a look at 3 key hits he took while with the Kings that resulted in concussions.

The first hit is from Dec 1, 2011 against the Florida Panthers. He took a high hit from Sean Bergenheim:

The most disturbing thing about this hit was that it went unpenalized and no suspension was dished out. This looks like your classic direct contact to the head, but somehow the reviewers said it was “shoulder to shoulder”. Thus, no suspension was given. This hit put Richards out for almost a month.

I should also mention I wish that Bergenheim had the guts to fight Richards. But he clearly avoided it.

The next hit was another direct hit to Richards’ head that was also overlooked:

Hanzal comes in to an unsuspecting Richards and lays his shoulder right into his head. Kudos for Richards for dropping the mitts and taking on that 6’5″ monster. This hit didn’t cause Richards to miss any games or be diagnosed with an “upper body injury” – code for a concussion. But I find it hard to believe that he didn’t sustain a concussion based on the style of hit. With Richards’ having sustained a concussion just a few months prior, he easily could have sustained a second one but just played through it.

The last hit he took was monstrous. And 100% illegal. Yet again, the hit against Richards went unpenalized and without suspension:

It looks like Bolland left his feet and made direct contact with the head. Again, the formula for suspension but it was overlooked by reviewers. Richards sure does have some bad luck with unsuspended hits to the head. This hit put Mike out for 3 games toward the end of the Kings 2013 playoff run where they lost to the Blackhawks in 5 games.

Into the 2013 off season Richards went where he could fully recover from his concussion. But I assume that recovery affected his off season training. It showed up when Lombardi talked, specifically, about this amidst talks about buying out Richards:

"“The biggest thing in the meeting with Michael – the important thing – is that he realized he’s going to have to make some adjustments in his offseason training,” Lombardi said on Friday in an interview with The Times.“He’s 29. In his prime. So it’s not as though the dropoff should be related to age. But players need to realize when you start getting 27, 28 — you can’t train, can’t prepare like you use to when you were 22 or 23.”"

Post concussion syndrome can linger for a long time. Especially in concussions sustained after the first one. And we’ve heard more and more about the effects of concussions on professional athletes in recent years. Players are simply not the same after sustaining a concussion. Just look at a few noted here: Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Mike Richter – just to name a few.

What is more convincing – that concussions may be the real cause of the demise of Richards – is found in the most recent news. His arrest at the Canadian border with pain killers. These controlled substances that Richards had are the same ones many professional athletes are prescribed to help with the symptoms of a concussion.

The fact that he had these while having no documented concussion in the past year creates suspicion. Why does he have them? What pain is he feeling? Could it be lingering post concussion syndrome? And has this pain caused a side effect attached to many concussions which affects a career and training regime – depression?

I’m not sure if we’ll ever get a clear answer to this speculation. But I do feel it’s worth noting. And mostly to protect Mike Richards. Rather than blaming him for his lack of production, maybe he deserves some grace. Maybe there have been factors out of his control. He has been on the short end of the stick related to some illegal hits to the head. And this might end up being the reason Richards gets added to the sad but true list of “NHL Careers Ended by Concussions”.

Next: Slava Voynov Released from Jail

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