News broke this morning that Kings Dman Slava Voynov had been arrested for domestic violence charges and per the NHL CBA is suspended indefinitely until further investigation.
The league acted swiftly in suspending the 24-year old Voynov, which comes in the wake of the NFLs controversy with the Ray Rice domestic violence case. Trying to sidestep any blunders in that department, the league has waited just a few hours from reporting of the crime to suspending Voynov indefinitely.
TMZ is also reporting that the victim of the domestic violence dispute with Voynov was hospitalized.
Law enforcement tells us ... Voynov was actually arrested at the hospital in Torrance, CA around 1 AM Monday morning on suspicion of domestic violence.We're told Voynov had accompanied the woman to the hospital -- and shortly after they arrived, hospital staffers called authorities to report Voynov as the person suspected of attacking the woman.
He has since posted bail
UPDATE: LA Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has posted bond, released from Redondo Beach Jail, LATEST @ 11 @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/FyxNJjCTUU
— Marc Cota-Robles (@ABC7MarcCR) October 20, 2014The Kings have also issued a statement regarding the investigation.
These developments are of great concern to our organization. We support the NHL’s decision to suspend Slava Voynov indefinitely during this process, and we will continue to take appropriate action as the legal proceedings and the investigation by the NHL take their course.
Voynov's lawyer has also said the following.
Voynov’s lawyer, Craig Renetzky, said no charges have yet been filed and that Voynov’s next court date is actually Dec. 1.
— Rich Hammond (@Rich_Hammond) October 20, 2014Former LAKInsider and now OC Register reporter Rich Hammond also posted this later on, which is a full report and details of what happened.
This is a developing story so more will be updated as news leaks out and the investigation progresses.
The Kings just signed Voynov to a 6-year $25 million dollar contract during last offseason. Due to it being a suspension Voynov's cap hit will count against the team as penalty until further notice, leaving them just 5 healthy defenseman currently and only $492K in space.
The NHL had to deal with another domestic violence issue last year as Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov was charged and then subsequently had the case dropped.
More as it develops. This is a pending investigation so nothing is certain, although given the circumstances things don't look too good.
I remind everyone to please be respectful in the comments section. Domestic violence is not a joke, do not attempt to make it one.
The Kings are currently on a three day break until the Sabres come to town on Thursday.
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