The Los Angeles Kings have locked up a key piece of their blueline, inking Slava Voynov to a 6 year deal. The Deal is reportedly worth $25 million meaning he will have an annual cap hit of $4.167 million. Voynov was set to become a restricted free agent on July 5th.
Ever since the trade of Jack Johnson a year and a half ago, Voynov has matured into the number 2 defenceman on the Kings, behind only Drew Doughty. The 23-year-old Voynov put up 6 goals and 19 assists for 25 points in this shortened 45 game season. He followed up that breakthrough performance with 6 goals and 13 points in 18 playoff games, and was a bright light for a Kings offence that struggled this spring.
He’s also become a reliable defender for the Kings, as he logged nearly 22 minutes a game for the Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs, putting up a team leading +9 rating in the process.
Voynov, was selected by Los Angeles in the second-round (32nd overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. In his career he has put up 14 goals and 45 points in 102 NHL games all with the Kings. Additionally, he has 7 goals and 16 points in 38 career playoffs games. Voynov was part of the Kings club that won the 2012 Stanley Cup.
Voynov, a Chelyabinsk native, is a good candidate to be part of the Russian Olympic squad in Sochi 2014, assuming that the NHL, IOC, and IIHF are able to finalize their deal.
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