Voynov pleaded out to domestic violence and he hasn’t sniffed the nhl since. Been like 5 years now. And he was a legit top 4 RHD.
I haven't read too deeply in it, but Voynov was an interesting case. Legally, I believe he pled no contest rather than pled guilty. He served his jail time then left for Russia. There would have been issues with deportation and visa issues there. His request to have his conviction dismissed was later granted in 2018, which presumably helps clear away the visa roadblocks.
Contractually, the Kings terminated his contract but continued to hold his rights until 2019 when his (terminated) contract would have ended. So before 2019, Voynov was not a free agent.
From the league perspective, he was first suspended indefinitely and that turned out to be an 82 game suspension. That suspension was reduced to 41 games by an arbitrator in 2019 due to time served.
So if Voynov does return to the NHL, he would have to serve his 41 game suspension. So both the player and the team would need to make a commitment to each other in order for it to make sense for both sides.
Obviously, Voynov's situation is a lot more complicated than Virtanen's situation where he just has a "criminal investigation" hanging over his head.
