If New Jersey Devils Sign Slava Voynov, They Will Lose Fans Including This One

Deep breath

Okay, we’re going to be very, very clear right now. This is partially a New Jersey Devils piece, but this is more our site expert Nick Villano giving his raw opinion. This isn’t the kind of opinion like “the Devils should sign Jeff Skinner” or “the Devils should draft Jack Hughes.” No, this is going to go a little beyond that.

This is going to get a little personal, so if you’re looking for a piece on analytics or some opinions on free agency or the NHL Draft, we have plenty of that on the home page. I encourage you to go there and read our pieces if you use sports as an escape from the every day and you don’t want to get into the issues that go beyond that. Sports absolutely should be an escape, and this site relishes in you using us as your escape to get Devils content daily.

However, I need to get something off my chest. This Slava Voynov situation sickens me to my core. Today, it was announced an arbitrator gave Slava Voynov credit for half a season of time served on his suspension. That means he can return to the NHL at the midpoint of the NHL season. One team has the ability to gain a former star defenseman after his suspension is over.

Plenty of players get suspended. Nate Schmidt got suspended for 20 games last season, and I would take him in a heartbeat. Whether it’s for taking performance enhancing drugs, or doing dumb stuff off the ice that gets you in trouble.

What Slava Voynov did was not “dumb stuff”. It was abhorrent. It was absolutely heinous. This was the actions of a monster.

Getting domestic violence statistics is really hard for many reasons. One, it’s hard because most domestic violence cases don’t go to trial. A large majority of that is because the victim in these cases stop cooperating with the prosecution. A majority of these cases happen after things calm down and said victim no longer wants to go through with the charges. Sometimes that means the victims takes the significant other back, and other times it means that victim just wants to move on with their life.

Voynov pleaded no contest to the charge of corporal injury to a spouse. A police report claims that Voynov punched, kicked, pushed, choked and shoved his wife into a television. This eventually led to a dismissal of the charges because of lack of evidence, despite the Los Angeles deputy district attorney fighting against that decision.

Think whatever you want about the U.S. Justice System, or the innocent until proven guilty narrative. I do not care. I cannot root for a team that employs Slava Voynov. This is a message to the New Jersey Devils, I absolutely cannot root for this team if he’s employed.

I’ve said it before on Twitter, but this is me holding myself accountable. I cannot root for the Devils anymore if Voynov is a part of their future plans. Playing in the NHL is a right, not a privilege.

This would be the first time in my life I’ve changed affiliations of a team. However, it would be worth it to move on from a team and an organization that thinks more about the team on the ice than the people those players impact.

The Devils have not been without fault in the past of employing some bad folks. Most recently, they employed Ben Johnson. He was drafted in 2012. In 2013, he sexually assaulted someone. In 2014, he signed a contract with the Albany Devils. That contract was terminated once he was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. At least once the facts came out, they made a move, although it would have been better if they cut their losses a little earlier.

This isn’t to stand on a high horse, or to push politics on Devils fans. This is to show that the Devils will lose fans if they decide to sign said player. I personally don’t believe they will. It’s totally not worth it to lose fans to add a player. Either way, after Thursday’s decision, it felt right to put these thoughts on paper.

The Devils would lose fans if they sign Voynov. It’s a fact, because they would at least lose this fan.