The day after he was in court to plead not guilty on charges of domestic violence, Slava Voynov, still suspended indefinitely by the NHL, took to the ice to skate with his Los Angeles Kings teammates.
Gaborik and Slava pic.twitter.com/wCozmnKjjc
— LA Kings Insider (@lakingsinsider) December 2, 2014
Kings GM Dean Lombardi at first refused to comment on Voynov’s presence, which 1) drew criticism on social media, and 2) based on what NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has said in the past, seemed to violate the terms of Voynov’s suspension.
Eventually, it was reported that the Kings felt Voynov was allowed to skate with teammates because it was an optional skate.
However, the O.C. Register’s Rich Hammond tweeted that “the Kings definitely did not get permission for this Voynov stuff.”
In an email to the O.C. Register (article published Nov. 10), Daly wrote that Voynov was allowed to work out with an assistant coach “under the terms of the suspension. He is prohibited only from participating in team activities (practices and other mandatory or optional team functions).”
Kings’ defense for Voynov skate is basically, “It was optional and he just went on a little earlier than usual.” We’ll see if NHL agrees.
— Rich Hammond (@Rich_Hammond) December 2, 2014
PHT has emailed Daly for clarification. We will update this post should we receive a response.
Related: Lombardi calls system ‘dysfunctional’ over Voynov’s cap situation