Mike Richards isn't going to let a little thing like an offseason arrest and a subsequent contract termination keep him from continuing his NHL dream. Richards, through his agent Pat Morris, announced to the professional hockey world on Tuesday that he's hard at work on the road to a return to the ice in the 2015-16 season.
"Mike has worked this summer toward getting back to the NHL and now he's a free agent," Morris said in a statement, via Rick Westhead of TSN. "He wants to do his best to return to the Mike Richards hockey that allowed him to play on an Olympic team and allowed him to win two Stanley Cups, including one in 2014. He's got desire and want and he's had the longest period of time to train."
More importantly, it sounds like the former Flyers captain and recent Kings castoff is going to have plenty of suitors. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on Tuesday that "there is interest" where Richards' play - if not his formerly bloated and unwieldy contract - is concerned.
That contract is a thing of the past thanks to the settlement agreement hammered out this past week between Richards and the Kings. Richards does still have legal matters to attend to - his next court date is Dec. 8 - so from that perspective, his future remains cloudy.
And yet Friedman is adamant that there will be interested parties once Richards, presumably, finds his way clear of the drug possession charges he's currently facing.
Despite his AHL demotion last season, it makes sense that teams would remain interested in the former first-round pick. Richards is a strong two-way player who, at this point in his career, could fit in well as a third or fourth-line, defensively-minded pivot.
