Well it has been a busy 24hrs in the NHL. There were a couple of trades and news out of California about LA Kings d-man Slava Voynov.
First lets start with Voynov. This afternoon Voynov was formally charged with felony domestic violence in relation to an incidet that occured in his Redondo Beach home back in October.
This comes to us not really as a surprise but more of a "I wonder what is going to happen to him" type of statement.
The extent of the injuries sustained by the victim in this situation is unclear. But it is known that they had recieved "great bodily injury" to their eyebrow, cheek and neck which resulted in needing medical attention.
The maximum penalty for this charge is up to nine (9) years in prison. Not to mention that any visa he needs to do anything in North America will be incredibly difficult to get should this charge stay with him.
The biggest issue with the whole situation for the Kings is that the league has still kept him suspended with pay. Meaning that they can not move his cap hit off their books which is in turn costing the team a roster spot because they are so tight on money right now.
If the NHL decides that in light of this new charge, they should suspend Voynov with out pay then the Kings can breathe a sigh of relief as they won't have to carry his cap hit on their roster anymore and can finally afford to bring up a player to fill in his position.
Why they haven't done that already for the Kings is beyond me. It only makes sense they would. Even if it was just to show that they don't support abuse of any kind in this league.
After all, any athlete that gets arrested now after all of the NFL allegations and arrests, is in the crosshairs by their own league who have a zero tolerance policy for that type of thing.
I don't know if he is guilty or not, that is for the courts to decide. But either way the Kings need help with the cap at this point and if the NHL continues with this situation as they have, it isn't going to come soon.
Ok, on to some trades that took place over the last 24 hours. First the Montreal Canadians traded away Rene Bourque to the Anaheim Ducks in return for Bryan Allen. This was a straight across trade for both sides. There was no salary retained by either team and both players get a fresh start in their new cities.
Both players are similar in age, Allen born in 80 and Bourque in 81, and have experience in the NHL with hundreds of games between them.
The rumored reason Anaheim brought Bourque in was to motivate some of their players a little more by "putting heat on their underachieving forwards." Bourque, who is not a stranger to needing a little motivation every now and then, gets a fresh start with a strong team where he should find a spot on the 3rd or 4th line.
Allen on the other hand adds a little veteran help to Montreal's blueline. He isn't a point producing d-man like Subban is, but he will be more of a stay at home player who alieviates trouble in his own zone.
Since both of these players are pretty miled out as far as NHL play is concerned, I wouldn't expect them to get contract offers from their new teams once theirs are up.
The other trade that was made was between division rivals the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers. Both players sent essentially minor leage players to the other. The Canucks sending Kellan Lian to Edmonton in return for Will Acton.
Acton going to Vancouver is more just a change of scenery, I think, than anything. He hasn't seen more than 45 games with the Oilers in his whole career and hasn't found his stride there either. So the change should be a good thing for him.
Lian on the other hand hasn't seen more than 3 games in the NHL and has been more of a 4th line player for the Canucks farm team over the last couple seasons.
Edmonton gains a player who is a couple years younger (Lian is 25 and Acton is 27) but who hasn't seen the NHL game virtually at all. And Vancouver gains a player with a little more NHL experience but a few more miles on him.
Both players cap hits are pretty much the same, so there isn't a trade off there if either was looking to dump a little salary. This seems to be a fair trade for players who are going to change cities and jersey colors and get start fresh.
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Until next time.
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