Kings' Mike Richards: 'I don’t picture myself as a 4th-line player'

It should have been another dream summer for Mike Richards. 

The Los Angeles Kings center brought the Stanley Cup back to his home town for the second time in three seasons - he'd soon have a championship ring on both hands.

But this time around, celebration was replaced by self-examination. As a victim of his own team's success, the Olympic gold medalist's career reached a crossroads last season when he was demoted to centering his team's fourth line.

In conversation with ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, Richards admitted he's not satisfied with his role.

Obviously winning cures all, and you’re happy about winning, but I don’t picture myself as a fourth-line player.

I'm not happy being in that role even though you’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win. But you feel you can do more to put yourself ... in a better situation. It was definitely a learning experience last year, maybe even a little bit of an eye-opener where you might take things for granted, or take having success for granted. We won, which is a good thing, but you feel like you can contribute to the team more and you don’t want to be put in that position again. And to be honest, I deserved to be put in that position last year.

His summer could have been much worse. Richards was considered a prime candidate for a compliance buyout following his uninspired season but managed to survive two one-on-one meetings with general manager Dean Lombardi.

After the season, we sat down, actually had two meetings, lengthy meetings, really just to talk about everything. We talked about how I played, what I wanted to do, and what he wanted me to get back to. We laid it all out on the table. Obviously he likes me as a player and wants me to be part of the team, and I want to be there, too. He more or less just told me I had to get back to what I was doing a few years ago when I was having success, rather than the past couple of seasons, especially last year when I didn't play the way I wanted to, other than the ending.

Richards's place and future with the organization is still uncertain, but he's no longer willing to leave anything to chance. The 29-year-old says he enlisted professional training for the first time in his career this summer after giving Lombardi his word that he would return to prominence.

The Kings begin their Stanley Cup defense - and Richards his quest prove his worth - Friday when training camp opens in El Segundo.