The NHL Learns from NFL's Mistakes, Suspends Slava Voynov Indefinitely

The National Hockey League announced Monday morning that Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was suspended indefinitely as the league investigates his arrest on charges of domestic violence.

From the NHL:

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NEW YORK – Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has been suspended indefinitely from all club activities pending a formal investigation by the National Hockey League of an arrest this morning on charges of domestic violence.

The suspension was imposed under Section 18-A.5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which provides that, during the pendency of a criminal investigation, "The League may suspend the Player pending the League's formal review and disposition of the matter where the failure to suspend the Player during this period would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League."

Voynov, who will continue to be paid during the pendency of the investigation, was arrested for California Penal Code section 273.5, Domestic Violence.

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According to the Los Angeles Times, the incident in question occurred Sunday night and Voynov has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday. (Update: Voynov's attorney said Voynov's appearance is scheduled for Dec. 1)

The Orange County Register has more details on the incident from the Redondo Beach Police Department.

The NHL deserves credit for acting swiftly in this regard, as they acted immediately and weren't embarrassed by a breaking-news story from TMZ, ESPN or any other media outlet. The league didn't leave the decision to suspend Voynov in the hands of the Kings or hide behind the idea of "due process," instead opting to do the only proper thing in this situation.

And that should be the long and short of this situation.

Since this involves an allegation of domestic violence and a professional sports league, there will be immediate comparisons to how the NFL recently handled similar situations. When Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was arrested for punching his soon-to-be wife Janay Rice in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino, commissioner Roger Goodell handed down a two-game suspension, this despite video of Rice dragging an unconscious Janay out of the elevator.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

It took video from inside the elevator, released months later by TMZ, for the NFL to suspend Rice indefinitely.

It's both irrelevant and relevant to the Voynov situation; it's irrelevant in that praising the NHL for acting in a more proper manner to a similar situation than the NFL is like praising a someone for not being the worst possible human being on the planet. You don't get credit for that. You don't get credit for making the only decision a human being should make in the wake of receiving this information.

But it's also quite relevant, as without the firestorm the NFL has faced this season over how it handles domestic violence allegations, there's no way the NHL would have acted as quickly and correctly as it did with Voynov.

Consider it was almost exactly a year ago when Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov was arrested on charges of domestic violence and kidnapping charges. The date of the arrest was Oct. 30, 2013.

The Avalanche released a statement that same day, which read: "The Colorado Avalanche organization is aware of the allegations concerning Semyon Varlamov. At this time, and until the conclusion of this investigation, the Avalanche organization will have no further comment on this situation."

The NHL stayed silent.

That was a Wednesday. Two nights later, Varlamov was in net, making 27 saves in a 3-2 overtime road win against the Dallas Stars.

The NHL didn't take swift action then, and neither did the Avs. 

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Two months later, the charges against Varlamov were dropped. Varlamov wasn't found not guilty—the charges were dropped. A spokesman for the district attorney said, "That's not to say we don't believe our victim. … Most of the time, additional investigation strengthens our case. This time ... it became clear we didn't have a belief we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

So what changed between Varlamov's case and the Voynov's suspension Monday? Ray Rice, that's what happened.

Without Ray Rice, there's little doubt it would have been business as usual in the NHL with Voynov taking the ice in Buffalo on Thursday. The league and the Kings would take a wait-and-see approach until the case either went to trial or was thrown out pending an investigation.

The NHL changed its behavior not because of a noble and human viewpoint toward a human being allegedly committing a heinous crime against another human being; the NHL changed its behavior after seeing a fellow sports league take a months-long hit to its brand for failing to do the obvious, human, correct thing.

It also didn't help matters that commissioner Gary Bettman, at a season-opening press conference in Los Angeles, of all places, seemed to step out of character to brag about how law-abiding his league's players are compared to those players in the NFL. From Bettman's press conference on October 8:

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I'm not sure for us there is any need for any code of conduct other than our players, who overwhelming conduct themselves magnificently off the ice -- we deal with it on a case by case basis. I don't think we need to formalize anything more. Our players know what's right and wrong, and as I said, we have the mechanisms in place to hopefully not get to that point.

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"Our players know what's right and wrong." Sure they do, Gary, because hockey players aren't like those criminal football players. The NHL is better!

Still, the NHL learned. How the NHL learned isn't as important as the fact the NHL has at least learned and is doing the right thing with Voynov.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.