It appears Janay Rice and Nicole Holder and all the other victims of a professional athlete’s rage did not suffer in vain.
When Slava Voynov, the Kings’ defenseman, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence early Monday, he was immediately, and indefinitely, suspended by the National Hockey League.
This is a major contrast with what happened, or didn’t happen, to Semyon Varlamov, goalie for the Colorado Avalanche, last fall.
He was charged with felony kidnapping and misdemeanor assault. His accuser, Evgeniya Vavrinyuk, alleged that Varlamov laughed while kicking, dragging and beating her, and that he told her he would have beaten her more severely if they were still in Russia.
The charges were dropped last December, although prosecutors made clear they did not think Varlamov was innocent.
Nevertheless, the goalie did not miss a game with the Avalanche.
Things have changed.
Public outrage over the National Football League’s handling of domestic abuse cases prompted the NHL to suspend Voynov. The league cited a clause in the collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners. However, the same agreement was in place last year and Varlamov kept playing.
NHL players are fairly well-behaved in comparison with other pro athletes and, for that matter, the population at large. The league hit Sean Avery with a six-game suspension in 2008 for vulgar comments he made about his ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert. When the suspension ended, the Dallas Stars kicked Avery off the team.
Granted, Avery’s excursions into hockey’s offensive zone were long and lucid by then. But the key phrase came in a statement from the league. It said Avery was “at odds with the manner in which 700 other players conduct themselves.”
That’s the point. The courts can determine Voynov’s guilt. The NHL has another jury in mind.
In this case, it’s the 18,118 who watch every game at Staples Center. The league does not take them for granted.
This is a generalization, but football fans don’t identify with their players as intensely as fans of other sports. Those players are disposable, for the most part. They are encased in helmets and armor. They are already objectified, as fantasy league members, as influences on the betting line. And they play just eight home games a year.
The relationship between hockey fans and their team, especially a winning team, is much different. It does not end when the game ends.
Not that the L.A. fans look at the Kings as superheroes. It’s warmer than that. They have watched Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick and, for that matter, Voynov grow up.
Such unconditional love could be compromised if a player was allowed to play under the cloud that follows Voynov.
The Kings franchise, like any other business, has the right to determine how it should be represented by its employees. Like other NHL teams, it insists its players reach into their communities. The least the players can do is avoid situations that jeopardize that bond.
Obviously, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has noticed how the NFL has soiled its own shield, and continues to.
The Carolina Panthers played Greg Hardy in this year’s opener even after he was convicted for harming Holder, although they benched him afterward. Hardy is appealing the conviction.
The San Francisco 49ers continue to play Ray McDonald after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, although no formal charges were filed.
The Ray Rice case put the NFL on the front page, uncomfortably. Commissioner Roger Goodell gave Rice a two-game suspension after he was diverted into a counseling program and his domestic violence charges were dropped. Goodell admitted he mishandled the case, but then a video inside a hotel elevator showed Rice punching his then-fiancee.
The shock of that image brought a new ridge of high pressure, and the NFL terminated Rice’s contract. Meanwhile, it imposed tougher domestic violence guidelines.
It is much easier to react than to anticipate. Donald Sterling’s racism was public knowledge 11 years before the NBA found it objectionable.
With Voynov, we only know the police report. The fact that he went to the hospital with the victim indicates some degree of awareness, maybe even remorse. He was released from jail on $50,000 bail.
Presumption of innocence is a right Voynov retains. Playing in the NHL is a privilege he has temporarily lost. The NHL issued a makeup call here, but it happens to be the right one.
