When the Los Angeles Kings made the choice to not rid themselves of Mike Richards’ erroneous contract via compliance buyout last summer, they did so with the thought process Richards will bounce back after an awful season/playoff run. Richards gave Dean Lombardi his word and Lombardi went with his heart, especially after Richards and the Kings won their second Cup in three years and looked to keep the proverbial band together. After an even worse 2014-15 season from Richards that saw him spend time in the minors and the Kings miss the playoffs for the first time since 2009, the organization and Richards have reached an end and it could end uglier than anyone anticipated.

The Kings waived Richards Saturday after being unable to find any team willing to take on his albatross of a deal that runs through 2020. At the time it looked like it was a standard buyout taking place and both sides would move on, but that all changed Monday morning. Rather than go through the motions of buying Richards out after clearing waivers the Kings terminated his deal and removed him entirely from the books, citing breach of contract. While the matter will likely be taken to an arbitrator by Richards and the NHLPA, the fact the Kings rolled the dice taking this move could really open a Pandora’s box going forward.

I’m not going to dig deep with speculation as to what the specific breach was, but reports have linked Richards to a “border incident” last week involving the Canadian Mounted Police. While details aren’t available, it surely isn’t a good look for the former Canadian Olympian. Regardless of the charges I still don’t see how Richards’ contract can be voided for an “incident” in which charges have yet to be filed and the team is still paying Slava Voynov despite not playing a game since facing spousal abuse charges last fall.

I understand that comparing the two is liken to comparing apples and oranges, but despite being rightfully suspended seemingly all season Voynov continued to get paid and his salary didn’t count towards the cap. On the flip side Richards stands to lose over $12 million with the same breach of morality involved. Guaranteed contracts are one of the NHLPA’s proudest achievements and it would be preposterous to just let this happen without making a stand.

If I had to bet I’d say this case will drag on all summer before a resolution is found. The Players’ Association can’t let this precedent be set as it’d be only a matter of time before teams are invoking it on struggling players for speeding tickets, citing breach of moral contract. While the long-term ramifications remain to be seen, in the present the Kings benefit from the current situation as Richards’ salary does not count against the cap, freeing them to pursue free agents when that window opens July 1. Quite frankly, for an ends-justify-the-means guy like Lombardi, that’s all that matters.