Ex-King Voynov bound for Russia
The defenseman signs a one-year deal with a Kontinental Hockey League team.
Former Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has signed a oneyear contract with a team in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.
Avangard Omsk announced Monday that it signed Voynov, who is suspended by the NHL for half of next season because of what the league ruled was a domestic assault incident from 2014.
The Kings severed ties to Voynov, 29, when his suspension was reduced in May, but they retain at least some of his rights and are in the process of determining that through the NHL Players’ Assn. The Kings did not comment on the KHL signing.
Voynov was initially suspended for the entire 2019-20 season, but arbitrator Shyam Das ruled that Voynov will be credited with having already served 41 games of the suspension during the 2018-19 season.
Voynov was a member of the Kings’ 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup title teams, and his Kings career ended with an alleged incident in October 2014 in which his wife, Marta Varlamova, told police that Voynov assaulted her at a Halloween party. Voynov pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of corporal injury to a spouse and was suspended indefinitely. He served nearly two months in jail.
Voynov last played hockey in the 2018 Winter Olympics for Russia. In a statement on Avangard’s website, team President Maxim Sushinsky said in Russian that Voynov is “known to all hockey fans” for “experience, skill, reliability, performance.”
“Voynov’s motivation [is] to prove to everyone, and above all to himself, that he is capable of solving the highest tasks with a top club,” Sushinsky said.
Kings re-sign four
The Kings re-signed restricted free agents Michael Amadio, Daniel Brickley, Matt Roy and Sheldon Rempal. Amadio, Brickley and Roy each signed two-year extensions worth $700,000 annually. Rempal signed his qualifying offer, a one-year contract worth $874,125 at the NHL level.
Amadio played 43 games last season and scored six goals with seven assists. Roy got an extended look on defense with 25 games played down the stretch. Brickley and Rempal have played mostly with the Ontario Reign.
The signings leave Adrian Kempe and Cal Petersen as the Kings’ remaining restricted free agents.
Ducks hire Dineen
Kevin Dineen was hired as coach of the Ducks’ minor league affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. He returns to the organization after he served as coach of former affiliate Portland, where he briefly coached Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Dineen, 55, is a former coach of the Florida Panthers and became a highly regarded assistant coach the past five seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks. A former NHL player with more than 1,100 games played, Dineen coached Canada’s women’s team to a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics and the men’s team to bronze at the 2014 under-18 world championships.