In the past few weeks the trade winds have begun to blow. It's about that time of the year when teams maybe start worrying that something is awry in their team make up.
Then you get a very unique incident and complication like the Voynov suspension. This too has made the trade winds blow. A few weeks back it was reported by the man himself, Eklund, that there were whispers of Voynov being on the block.
Plain and simple but from an outsiders perspective, this strictly off-ice situation has had a pretty negative impact on the team. On Saturday, for the second time this season, the Kings played without a full compliment of players which is thanks in large part to the suspension to No. 26 and the fact that the team still has to pay him.
This is a very difficult and sensitive subject if you are a GM. Knowing Dean Lombardi he's playing his emotions and opinions pretty tight to the vest. However, you have to wonder if these trade winds are blowing out of sheer frustration or out of real concern of performance and fit. The team has won with Voynov on the squad, but they have also won without him in recent games. It's important to remember that no one player makes a team. (Unless it's Anze Kopitar and the Kings are on an East Coast road trip.)
First off, you have to look at what Voynov has meant to the Kings.
He is a legitimate top four defenseman on just about every team in the league. At age 24, he's also part of a very young core that is rising up in LA and that has already won two Cups. He has provided decent back end production for the team in his past three seasons, although his goal totals took a pretty notable dip in pace from 2012-13 to 2013-14. His ice time tends to hover around 22-24 minutes and he is part of the Kings' power play unit as well. He just began his second year of a multi-year extension which would see him paid $4.166M AAV through 2018-19. The quiet young Russian was drafted by the Kings, developed by the Kings, and has blossomed into a legit NHL defenseman with the Kings. He has won here, and been a pretty big piece to that puzzle. Some of these are definitely hard things to quantify.
But here comes the tough reality.
This is an ugly situation that has gone on off the ice. Take away the cap concerns and repercussions, it's still an ugly situation. This could make a locker room tense, it could potentially upset other players, it has even upset fans of the Kings and we don't even know all the details. We will probably never know all of the details for that matter.
Now, we have to remember that it's not guilty until proven innocent. It is the other way around. Nonetheless, just as a fanbase can be divided in their initial thoughts, a locker room might be also. These guys are in fact human beings just like you and I. The kicker between them and us is that none of us actually know Voynov like his teammates or the coaching staff do. Ergo, I don't really feel like I am in a place to pass judgement on his character at this given point in time. I just know that this is a sensitive and rather volatile issue that can really get people uncomfortable, regardless of the outcome. Rightfully so as well. Domestic violence is a terrible thing that happens in today's society unfortunately, and it isn't hardly talked about. Because of that people can become very uncomfortable when it happens involving someone you know. But I digress.
Now bring in the cap issue, and how this personal off-ice issue has put the hammer down financially on the Kings. Personal off-ice issues that are directly effecting the operation of the entire team. Granted, there are other contracts that are taking up cap space, and other situations like injuries to take into account, but that has got to be a big source of frustration for Dean Lombardi.
You also have to look at competition. Alec Martinez is an upcoming UFA at the end of this season. He has been of average quality this season in terms of possession numbers, but in a role that is similar to Voynov's he hasn't been bad by any stretch of the imagination. His agent has been reportedly seeking a similar contract to what Voynov has now. Consider that, and then consider that the Kings don't really know what's going on with Slava and where his future lies. Letting Martinez walk doesn't seem like an option right now at all.
The multiple injuries and lack of personnel has also prompted the Kings to sign 26-year old Jamie McBain (or expected to sign before Wednesday's game). He was on a PTO with the Kings but has looked very good with the Monarchs thus far. He's a former 2nd round pick of the Hurricanes in 2006 and has played in 275 career games accumulating 92 points.
Couple this with the fact that Voynov didn't exactly have as dominant a year last year as people expected AND he wasn't exactly tearing anything up to start this year pre-suspension. The Kings also have a couple of decent defenseman in the pipeline in Roland McKeown, Nick Ebert, Zach Leslie etc. etc. Maybe not the most important thing to look at, but definitely worth noting when valuing the overall pipeline and placing an evaluation of importance upon Voynov.
I don't want to assume anything here, but the formula for a move could be in the works. However, it is dependent upon several things.
1. How well does McBain/Martinez work out in the long run?
2. The status of the investigation and ultimately the results of it.
If Voynov is absolved of any wrongdoing, it could just be one of those things and the team moves on from. Will there be lingering feelings though? Who knows.
Hockey teams are like families. When problems arise within the family you don't talk about it to people not in the family. The best we on the outside can do is speculate with the information we are given.
As I see it right now, and this is just my opinion, the Kings are getting frustrated with this whole situation. Who they are frustrated at is beyond me. Is it the NHL? Is it the District Attorney's office? Is it Slava Voynov himself? I can't tell you that. What I can tell you is that they seem to be taking a lot of measures to prepare for the worst. McBain potentially being signed, increasing the usage of Alec Martinez on a contract year, whispers of availability in a trade perhaps...
More will come out in due time. Would the Kings really move Voynov though? It seems like more of a possibility today than yesterday, and yesterday it seemed more a possibility than two weeks ago. Who knows how that will feel two weeks from now when this still isn't figured out potentially.
Trying times for Dean Lombardi and management no question. Where do you go from here?
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