Mike Richards could be healthy scratch for Kings vs. Jets

He had teetered on the brink before during this struggling season. There was the 10:09 he played against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 20, on 14 shifts; a few other games when his ice time barely hit above 11 minutes.

But against the New York Rangers on Thursday night, Mike Richards played just 9 minutes and 7 seconds on 12 shifts, season lows in both and the first time he’s dropped below 10 minutes of ice time this season.

He’s making $5.75 million annually through 2020 as the team’s fourth-line center. He was an extra forward in practice on Friday.

The thinking is that Richards could be a healthy scratch on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets.

From Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider:

Richards has always been accepting of his role. He has done so because he puts the team’s needs ahead of his own preferences. But Richards was asked how difficult it is to be be earning limited minutes, as he did last night with a season-low 9:07 of ice time.

“That’s not fun. It’s no good,” Richards replied. “I still obviously think I can play a lot more minutes, but at the same time, you play what you’re put in the position of. I’m not going to cause a scene or do anything to kind of take the focus away from everything, and [I’m] just going to come to the rink every day and play hockey.”

That Richards was an extra doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll sit out tomorrow’s game against Winnipeg; keep in mind there’s the chance that a message is being sent by the coaching staff. It’s a possibility. A better sense of the team’s lineup against the Jets will be learned during tomorrow’s morning skate.

This is true. It could be Sutter trying to spark Richards with a threat of a scratch. Or it could be a healthy scratch.

He was a fourth-liner last season, too, after which GM Dean Lombardi had a chance to give him a compliance buyout. But as a member of two Cup-winning teams, Lombardi sacrificed fiscal sanity for loyalty and the promise that Richards would train harder in the offseason. From the LA Times:

"The most important thing is he realized he wasn’t anywhere near where he is capable of being. If he’s telling you, ‘Well, I was good.’ Then you’ve got a big problem. If he’s not able to critique himself, then we’re wasting our time.

"But he freely admitted that it was nowhere near where he was capable, and the root is not age or injury. It starts with the understanding that I’ve got to prepare like a 28- or 29-year-old, not a 22-year-old.

"As long as he looked me in the eye and made that promise that he would make the commitment in the offseason …Essentially, I have to trust him. Once that deadline goes, we’re locked in."

That they are.