[codynw]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

While I agree that a DUI/barred entry from the US might be plausible, I think there have been a fair number of cases of that happening, without contract termination. Fairly certain Bob Probert had border issues, not sure with MacTavish, but one would think.
Lombardi doesn't seem like a guy that would dump Richards though, unless it really was bad. He stuck with him, even when they had a chance to use a compliance buy-out.

Dean Lombardi regrets not using a compliance buyout.

"I met with him. He promised that he'd do it. And when a guy looks you in the eye and promises, to me, that goes beyond loyalty," Lombardi told the Los Angeles Times before last season. "A guy's giving you his word. That's more important than a contract or anything else."

Lombardi was burned. He felt Richards' contribution was so middling that it was worth saddling all but $925,000 of Richards' $5.75 million cap hit just to have him play in the AHL.

"It could be the worst decision I ever made," Lombardi told ESPN.com last month. "But for all the right reasons. In a cap world, you can't have any heart and soul. I struggle with that."

http://www.tsn.ca/talent/kings-gm-lo...hance-1.320414