LA Kings under attack for handling of Slava Voynov and Mike Richards

Instead of buying out forward Mike Richards, the Los Angeles Kings terminated his contract, which is unusual. The basis for Richards' termination was an incident, which occurred at the border between Canada and the United States. There is a problem though: Richards was not accused of any wrongdoings.

Yet, the Kings continue to support defenseman Slava Voynov, who was sentenced to 90 days in jail for domestic violence. L.A. Times journalist Helene Elliott says this is a big hypocrisy:

The Kings terminated the contract of Mike Richards, who has not been charged after reportedly being stopped at a Canadian border town last month on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance without a prescription, yet they gave the use of their training facilities and coaches’ expertise to Slava Voynov, who on Thursday pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of corporal injury to a spouse.

There are many things wrong with this picture. Primarily, that it appears the Kings are trying to dump the long and costly contract of Richards, whose performance has declined dramatically the last two seasons, while trying to preserve the career of Voynov, a skillful 25-year-old defenseman whose absence was keenly felt last season as they missed the playoffs.

In 2014 and earlier this year, the NFL had several cases of domestic violence perpetrated by it’s players. A lot of teams failed to answer accordingly, drawing criticism toward the league. NFL star Ray Rice was dismissed by his team and other NFL teams stayed away from Rice. Similarly, should the Kings dismiss Voynov and should other NHL teams stay away?