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Repairing a Dysfunctional Los Angeles Kings Home

A trio of concerning off-ice incidents led the Kings to hire former NHLer Brantt Myhres, a recovering drug addict, as a player assistance director. He hopes to repair the hockey family and eliminate the stigma of not reaching out for help.
Photo by Chris Szagola-The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

The last year saw the home of the Los Angeles Kings become dysfunctional. Not the Staples Center, the rink where the Kings have won two Stanley Cups since 2012, but the team: the players' home away from home, their second family. Like in any family—even the thriving ones—members act out.

Mike Richards and Jarret Stoll were kicked out of the house for separate drug possession charges while Slava Voynov likely won't be invited back for any reunions after serving jail time for a domestic abuse incident. He has since returned to his home in Russia.

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Kings general manager Dean Lombardi, in an effort to keep his hockey family together, hired Brantt Myhres as a player assistance director in order to provide additional resources to players who may become concerned about any possible off-ice issues they face. Lombardi was floored by the three arrests and couldn't believe he hadn't anticipated that players whom he trusted and was loyal to—as evidenced by his decision not to buy out Richards' cumbersome contract in 2014—may need the kind of help the organization was unable to provide.

Drugs, alcohol, gambling, domestic abuse—these are some of the things Kings players can talk to Myhres about without risk of exposure or loss of ice time. The former enforcer played parts of seven NHL seasons beginning in 1994. He failed four drug tests and was eventually given a lifetime ban by the league, playing his last game in 2002. The Edmonton, Alberta, native suffered from drug addiction, but says he's since been sober for more than seven years.

"After my fourth suspension from the (NHL) and the union, they told me that they were washing their hands of paying for any more treatments or rehabs," Myhres recently said on a conference call. "When I retired and I went into that two years of darkness, I didn't call them for help because I thought they'd never help me. After I hit a real rock-bottom one day, I got a phone call from them that night asking if I was willing to finally get sober. It was one of the most emotional phone calls I'd had because I was just screaming out for help at that point.

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"(The NHLPA) paid for eight months of treatment and for me to go back to school. I couldn't be more grateful to them for that."

Richards' and Stoll's arrests came after this past season's end, but Voynov's October arrest kept him out of all but six games, hurting Los Angeles' playoff chances while his contract took up cap space. It was reported last week that Richards' contract would stay on the Kings' books until 2032, despite his release from the team.

In 2014–15, the Kings became just the fifth team in NHL history to miss the playoffs one season after capturing the Stanley Cup. They started this season by scoring only two goals in three straight losses, before winning a pair of games this past weekend.

Lombardi took responsibility for not seeing the warning signs. "This is my fault," he told ESPN in June.

Now he's trying to be proactive by bringing in Myhres with whom he has a history with. Myhres played for Lombardi and Kings coach Darryl Sutter from 1998–2000 when the two were the GM and head coach, respectively, of the San Jose Sharks.

"When I got out of the game, people would ask me 'Where was your favourite place to play and who for?'" said Myhres. "I come back to Dean and Darryl (in San Jose) because, I don't know, it felt like a family bond that I had with that organization and the guys more than I had anywhere else. They really did care, more as a person than (as) a hockey player."

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Players from around the league, even Minnesota Wild assistant coach Darryl Sydor, have had their off-ice discrepancies aired out in public this past summer, none more prominent and disturbing than a woman's accusation in August that Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane raped her. Kane has not been charged and says he will be exonerated.

Myhres said he had been pitching this program to the NHL for several years, and had meetings with Donald Fehr of the PA, but there were no takers. Lombardi was the first executive to respond with a hiring.

"It's solely between me and the player how I'm going to handle it," said Myhres. "Dean's hired me to do a job and he's put trust in me to do that role and I'll take care of it."

Lombardi declined comment to VICE Sports. Myhres, meanwhile, hasn't divulged exactly how his plan will unfold.

"I built the proposal as an ex-player and (kept in mind) how I would react to a guy coming into the dressing room in a position like that," he said. "The number one factor in building this was that the conversations that I would have with the players (would be) strictly confidential and that they could come to me without any fear of it leaving the office."

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A player's concern over ice time, his long-term career prospects, and perhaps how he is perceived publicly are hurdles Myhres will have to clear in order to establish a degree of trust.

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"At my best, I was making $650,000," he said. "The last people that I wanted to confront on my issues were the people who controlled whether I got paid or not. I didn't want to raise any red flags or hinder my chances at playing in the NHL. At that point, I just kept it to myself."

What does he hope to change?

"The stigma of not reaching out for help, or reaching out for help when it's too late," said Myhres. "They're gonna have resources in-house to address those issues.

"I'm not gonna come in and gain that (trust) in the first week or month, it's gonna take time. I feel that I'm ready to do it."

Fortunately for Myhres, his own family stood behind him during those "dark" years.

"Family is the one that never gives up," he said. "When you're talking about a human being that suffered the addiction that I did, there were countless times when I thought they would turn the other cheek and give up but they always stuck with me and said that there was something in me worth fighting for."

Family is the word he repeatedly used. It's also a place to which Lombardi and the Kings hope to successfully return.