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There has been a plethora of coverage lately involving domestic disputes in the National Football League, but recently the National Hockey League has also come into light with a few scandals of their own.
Just last week, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was arrested on felony domestic violence charges, but was released on bail. Voynov was almost immediately suspended from the NHL. Voynov’s wife released a statement through her lawyer claiming she did not want her husband to be arrested following last week’s dispute, however. The incident allegedly happened with the couple’s child at home, who managed to sleep through the ordeal. Voynov’s wife also does not intend to press charges against her husband, but due to California’s Penal Code, Voynov was in violation of code 273.5 (a), Corporal Injury on an Intimate Partner. This is considered a crime against the state, and it is up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney whether or not charges will be filed.
Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov is at the center of his own domestic dispute after having a civil suit filed against him by his ex-girlfriend. Varlamov was initially arrested last October on assault charges against his then-girlfriend, but the charges were eventually dropped in December after the prosecutors deemed they did not have enough evidence to move forward with the case.
Varlamov may have thought he was out of woods with the case, but here we are, almost exactly one year later, and the goaltender is in the headlines once again. This time, his ex-girlfriend, Evgeniya Varinyuk, is seeking “general, compensatory, and punitive damages for reduction in past, present, and future income, damage to her reputation, humiliation, and emotional distress,” as reported by ESPN.com.
The suit claims that from November 2012 to October 2013 Varlamov repeatedly physically abused his then girlfriend in “fits of drunken rage,” and also claims that these incidents happened in both Russia and the United States, but Varinyuk was fearful of contacting authorities in the United States because of Varlamov’s status.
The NHL has reacted much differently to the Varlamov case than it did to the Voynov case. While Voynov was suspended from play, Varlamov was never suspended, and was actually allowed to play the night he was released from jail.
These incidents follow the highly publicized video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice striking his fiance in an elevator. He is on an indefinite suspension from the National Football League.
As the number of domestic violence cases continues to grow throughout professional sports, we can only wonder what measures the respective leagues should be taking to penalize these players. Is a suspension from play enough, or should further action be taken? In my opinion, further action should definitely be taken. A suspension is kind of like putting a kid in time out for misbehaving, and this is definitely far worse. The National Hockey League needs to look inward and see what measures should be implemented to deter against this kind of behavior.
