WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 17: Mike Richards #10 of the Washington Capitals looks on during a stoppage in play against the New York Rangers in the third period at Verizon Center on January 17, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Washington Capitals forward Mike Richards doesn’t expect to talk to Dean Lombardi in the near future. Even if the two bump into one another at Tuesday’s Capitals/Los Angeles Kings game at Verizon Center – the first time Richards will face his former team after a bitter offseason divorce – Richards doesn’t know what he would say.

“I haven’t talked to him, but it’s nothing more than – really he was my boss. Do you talk to your former bosses? Probably not. So, that’s all it was. I haven’t talked to him and to be honest I don’t really expect to,” Richards said. “I’ve never really thought about it. I doubt really anything would be said. I’m not really sure to be honest.”

During the offseason the Kings terminated Richards’ contract for what the team called a “material breach.”

It was then reported Richards had been stopped at the US/Canada border for an issue involving the prescription pain killer oxycodone. Richards, was then charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Eventually Richards and the Kings came to a settlement on his contract, but the day that happened, Lombardi released a long statement to the Los Angeles Times saying he was “played” by Richards. At the time of the termination, Richards had five years left on his contract that carried a $5.75 million salary cap hit.

He played in a men’s league in his hometown in Kenora, Ontario, before the Capitals decided to sign him to a one-year $1 million contract to add lower-line depth. The move has been a decent fit for Richards personally. Caps coach Barry Trotz is known someone who has his pulse on players and their emotions. This has helped nudge Richards in the right direction – even if he hasn’t posted a point in 11 games played and has mostly seen fourth-line minutes. He's averaged 12:00 of ice-time per-game and won 55.4 percent of his face offs.

A year ago, Richards was on the outs in LA. The Kings had thought about buying him out the previous summer, but after Lombardi went to Richards’ home in Kenora, he believed the then 29-year-old Richards needed to focus more on nutrition and fitness in order to return to elite status.

Last year, the numbers didn’t add up to Lombardi’s faith. Richards bounced from the NHL to the minors and had 16 points in 53 games played.

This continued a precipitous decline that saw Richards drop from three straight years of 62 points or higher in Philadelphia to reaching no more than 44 points in his time with the Kings after a 2011 offseason trade.

Richards was already considered a regular buyout candidate by LA in the summer of 2015. And when the Kings terminated his deal, it brought confusion to what was believed to be a straightforward process.

The Kings were already dealing with the salary cap, and legal, uncertainty of Slava Voynov, a defenseman who held a $4.167 salary cap hit, who was suspended indefinitely with pay for domestic violence against his wife.

The team had hoped to retool from a year that saw them miss the postseason one year after winning a Stanley Cup. They also needed to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent Anze Kopitar before he hit the open market on July 1, 2016.

Richards’ contract was seen as an albatross and damaging to LA’s salary cap flexibility.

To this day, there are still questions on whether Kings management used Richards’ plight as a way to get out from under his contract. At times it feels like there's a disconnect between some players and coaches, who remember Richards as the teammate who helped them battle to two Stanley Cups, and Lombardi, who felt betrayed by Richards after their summer meeting in 2014.

“I think I’m record with all that. I think I’ve said that from day one. I wasn’t one of the people throwing Mike Richards under the bus,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “I wanted what’s best for Mike Richards and I still do. Clear? It’s not even a question.”

After the Kings terminated the deal, the NHLPA filed a grievance. But the initial public damage had been done on Richards’ reputation. It got only worse when Lombardi felt the need to emote to the media.

“It’s tough to comment and there’s always two sides to every story. There was Dean’s who is obviously a loyal guy and felt hurt and there’s Mike’s side of the story,” said Justin Williams, a former Kings teammate of Richards' who has been reunited with him on the Caps. “Mike had a tough year last year no question. Things didn’t go the way we wanted tem to, that’s needless to say, and now I think he wants to close the book on that and move forward and try to resurrect his career and we want him to be able to do that.”

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