[Vulcan]

Here's an article putting the players situation in the reality of staying in the NHL as a fringe player.

Once again, we'll revisit 2011, when Ian Laperriere said the following about fringe players sitting out:

If you do, you’re not going to have a contract the next year. There are 100 guys lining up to take your job. Dave Tippett once told me that I wasn’t the kind of guy who could afford not to play 80 games. It was true, and it was advice that’s served me well. But I put myself through a lot of things that I otherwise wouldn’t have to be out there.

Mike Richards had suddenly become a fringe NHLer. Mike had to play every single night because, frankly, it wouldn't have taken much to lose his spot in the lineup. In fact, he ultimately lost his job to Nick Shore, who posted a whopping 7 points in 34 games.

The biggest problem facing Dean Lombardi and the Kings with regards to Mike Richards is that the optics of this situation are incredibly, unbelievably poor. The Kings are, in effect, booting a man out of the front door in the process of outing him as an apparent drug user. I don't think that there is any question that this looks awful, and I suspect that once we learn the truth (should we ever learn any semblance of a complete truth about this), it will not make anyone happy.

http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/20...gs-and-the-nhl