It didn’t come out of nowhere, but no one was expecting this:

Hearing Mike Richards of LA is on waivers today. Wow. — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 26, 2015

WUT.

LA puts Mike Richards on waivers. Also, NJ puts Tim Sestito on waivers. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

*jaw hangs open*

So this is the way the Mike Richards Era ends: Not with a bang but a waiver. — PumperNicholl (@PumperNicholl) January 26, 2015

Mike Richards, the player that Dean Lombardi went all in for in the summer of 2011, was suddenly all but gone.

There are still many things to play out, but here’s what we know right now (by that I mean what Bob McKenzie is telling us):

Richards has $5.75M cap hit for 5 seasons after this one. He's being paid $7M this season, $6M, $5.5M, $4.5M, $3M and $3M in remaining yrs. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

If Richards retires before end of contract, especially in penultimate or last year, LA gets dinged with significant cap recapture penalty. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

TOR/CGY believed to be teams talking recently to LA about Richards trade. Guessing Leafs/Flames were trying to move their bad contracts. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

If Richards clears, expectation is he'll be assigned to Manchester (AHL). LA obviously hopes waivers may flush out more trade options. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

If Richards clears waivers, sent to AHL, $925K of $5.75M cap hit comes off LA's cap. So Richards would represent $4.825M of dead cap space. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 26, 2015

*thumbs down emoji*

Richards never lived up to the statistical level that he reached with the Philadelphia Flyers, but we was an integral part of the 2012 Stanley Cup team and played a big part in the 2014 run as well.

King Tufficult, our resident historian and lover of all things LA Kings, wrote about why Richards means so much to the organization. It was a moving piece that captured how we should all look back on the Richards Era.

Here's a live look at @KingTufficult dealing with the Richards situation right now… pic.twitter.com/kSlMqre6En — Indiana_Matt (@Indiana_Matt) January 26, 2015

Beyond that, it’s just a sad day…

Sad because we never wanted it to end like this.

Live look into the #TeamTRH War Room right now. pic.twitter.com/zEi2Hk0Cq3 — The Royal Half (@theroyalhalf) January 26, 2015

Sure, Richards’ game had fallen off, but Kings fans don’t take joy in seeing one of their own become a shell of his former self.

We here at #TeamTRH wish nothing but the best for a man who brought so many great memories to us and Kings fans everywhere, and hope that this isn’t the end of his career.

So, for now, just remember the good times while the rest of the dust settles:

Just the mood music that we need.

Take care, Rick.