NHL's Mike Richards charged with controlled substance
EMERSON, Manitoba (AP) Mike Richards, an NHL free agent whose contract was terminated by the Los Angeles Kings, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
He was charged Tuesday and is to appear in provincial court Sept. 10, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Police say a 30-year-old male was arrested and released June 17 after the RCMP was notified that a controlled substance had been intercepted in Emerson, which is more than 60 miles south of Winnipeg, on the North Dakota border.
Richards had five years and $22 million left on his contract with the Kings, who cited ''material breach'' in ending the deal. The NHL Players' Association filed a grievance against the Kings. The union said a hearing date is not set.
Richards, of Kenora, Ontario, has played 10 NHL seasons with the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers. The center has 179 goals and 303 assists in 710 regular-season games.
After winning two gold medals with Canada at the world junior hockey championships, Richards won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and then two Stanley Cups with Los Angeles.
He signed a $69 million, 12-year contract with the Flyers in 2007. Richards led them to the 2010 Cup final and was one of the faces of that franchise until he was traded to the Kings in 2011.
His production declined last season, and the Kings put him on waivers at the All-Star break and sent him to the American Hockey League's Manchester Monarchs. The Kings brought him back later in the season but put him on buyout waivers in June.
On June 29, the club announced the contract termination, saying it was ''not prepared to provide any more detail or to discuss the underlying grounds'' for the move.
