Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi was a finalist for the NHL’s general manager of the year award, in large part because of his ability to keep his team’s core together for so long. Two key pieces of said core will remain with the Kings for the foreseeable future.
The Kings are holding on to both forward Mike Richards and defenseman Matt Greene after the team elected to not use a compliance buyout on Richards while also re-signing Greene to a four-year deal.
The decision to keep Richards in the fold is an interesting one. He’s signed through the 2019-20 season, when his 12-year, $69 million contract — with an annual $5.75 million salary-cap hit — will expire. Richards is coming off a regular season in which he scored just 11 goals and added 30 assists. He was a little better in the Stanley Cup playoffs with 3-7-10 totals as the Kings went on to win it all.
However, the lack of production that Richards showed during the season had him demoted to the fourth line, and the 29-year-old’s commitment was questioned. The Kings apparently believe Richards still has the ability to be the type of player he was earlier in his career, when he scored at least 23 goals in each of his final four seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. Richards also was an integral part of the Kings’ 2012 Stanley Cup win when he posted 15 points in 20 games.
Greene, meanwhile, will receive $10 million over the course of his four-year contract, according to ESPN.com. Greene is a solid defenseman who also provides veteran leadership. However, he has played in just 43 games over the last two seasons while battling injury issues. The 31-year-old appeared in 20 of the Kings’ postseason games and averaged 14:28 of ice time per game.
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