It's not a good look for the NHL that Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was arrested on domestic violence charges. It looks even worse in light of all the recent bad press the NFL has been enduring due to several star players like Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy being arrested for the very same domestic violence charges.
But the NHL acted quickly in response to Voynov's arrest and for that, says Nick Cotsonika of Yahoo! Sports - for learning a valuable lesson from the blunders of the NFL - they should be commended.
"So at 10:32 a.m. ET on Monday - or 7:32 a.m. PT, about two-and-a-half hours before Voynov was even released from jail on $50,000 bond - the NHL issued a statement," writes Cotsonika. "It not only announced the suspension, it broke the news of the arrest. The NHL beat TMZ."
The NHL and the Kings organization acted swiftly, suspending Voynov immediately - a sequence of events that may not have happened so quickly had the NFL not set such a poor recent example.
"That's how you send the message that domestic violence is unacceptable," Cotsonika goes on to say. "That's how you get in front of a story and come off as proactive, not reactive. That's how you keep Gary Bettman from becoming another Roger Goodell. If it was because of the NFL PR nightmare - in whole or in part - fine. At least someone learned something and it led to real progress."
In a statement released on the NHL's website post-Voynov's-arrest, the Los Angeles Kings said; "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."
Just last year, Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and kidnapping charges. The NHL and deputy commissioner Bill Daly chose not to intervene.
This time, things are different.
"Different facts and circumstances," Daly wrote in an e-mail to Yahoo Sports, per Cotsonika. "That's all I can say."
The swiftness with which the league acted on Voynov shows a marked difference in opinion and speaks to the heightened sensitivity in the public sphere toward domestic violence.
As Cotsonika says of Voynov's immediate suspension; "It was the right move. It was the only move."
