Kings Announce Slava Voynov Won't Play for Them After Domestic Assault Suspension Upheld

In 2014, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse after being arrested for an altercation with his wife.

Voynov was suspended from the NHL indefinitely, and has not seen the ice since.

On Thursday, arbitrator Shyam Das cut Voynov's 2019-20 season-long suspension cut to 41 games, making him eligible to return to the league midway through next year. But where will he be playing?

The Kings issued a statement after the arbitrator's decision, saying that Voynov would not be playing another game for Los Angeles regardless of the suspension reduction.

The statement also mentioned that the organization as a whole will determine what to do with the rights to Voynov for when he finishes serving his suspension.

In other recent domestic abuse cases, the same arbitrator has reduced two other suspensions to NHL players helping them return to the ice faster. Das reduced Nashville Predators forward Auston Watson's suspension from 27 games to 18 games.

Das then followed that up with reducing Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson's suspension from 20 games to 14 games. However, Wilson ended up serving a 16-game suspension, being that it was reduced after he had already served two games.

Regardless, someone in the NHL will attempt to make a move for Voynov to obtain his rights when his suspension is up, but one thing's for sure: he will not be wearing a Kings jersey when he returns to the NHL.