L.A. King's star defensive man Slava Voynov had a respectable run during his time with the NHL. Although, it was cut short when Voynov was banned from the league for allegedly beating up his wife, Marta Varlamova. Now, reports are saying that Marta sent a letter to a District Attorney in L.A., with assertions that Slava only pushed her. However, a string of live tweets by L.A. Times reporter, Nathan Fenno, say that the arresting officer claimed otherwise.
Slava got his start in hockey back in the 2006-2007 season for a team based out of Russia. After only two seasons with the Russian team, the L.A. Kings drafted him into their Minor League affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs.
Voynov finally made it to the big-time in the 2011-2012 season, and, impressively, the Kings won the Stanley Cup that year.
Unfortunately, everything fell apart for Voynov in 2014.
On October 20 of this year, he was indefinitely suspended from the NHL after being arrested for (allegedly) badly beating his wife. According to TMZ Sports, however, his wife sent a letter to the D.A. claiming the whole thing was her fault:
"NHL star Slava Voynov's wife pleaded with prosecutors to drop the felony domestic violence case against him because if people like Ray Rice didn't go to jail ... Slava shouldn't either. A letter [was] sent by Slava's wife to the L.A. County District Attorney in November ... and in it she takes all the blame for the argument...She claims Voynov was trying to go to sleep, but she kept pressing the issue and got physical Marta says he only pushed her when she refused to get out of his face. That's when she claims she turned and smashed her head into a flat screen TV..."
This news may be relieving for some Kings fans out there.
It probably feels good to see some of the heat taken off one of the team's key members. However, things still seem suspicious.
According to Yahoo Sports and L.A. Times reporter Nathan Fenno, the arresting officer's statements in court contradict Marta's:
"Voynov's wife had laceration over left eye, blood streaming, red marks on neck. Voynov pushed wife to ground multiple times, kicked her repeatedly while on ground, chocked her three times. Voynov pushed her into flat-screen TV where she cut her face. Voynov's wife required eight stitches to close wound above left eye..."
What do you think? Is Marta simply trying to protect the man even though he viciously beat her? Or, is there more to the story? Let us know in the comments below.
