It looks like former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov is set to re-enter the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg, according R-Sport’s Alexander Rogulev.
Voynov has requested a move from Traktor Chelyabinsk to SKA St. Petersburg, who is led by Ilya Kovalchuk, among many other former NHLers.
In a translation at The Hockey News, Voynov’s agent Ravil Iskhakov said that Voynov has “decided to play SKA, due to the fact that the club will compete for the Gagarin Cup. This will help Voynov prepare for matches for the national team of Russia. At the moment, the general manager of SKA Andrew Tochitskii (is) in Chelyabinsk and in talks with Traktor on the exchange of rights (for Voynov). When these conditions are met, (Voynov) will be able to sign a contract with SKA.”
Voynov returned to Russia as he faced potential deportation after serving a portion of a 90-day sentence for a no contest plea to misdemeanor domestic violence. He missed the entirety of last season, prior to his jail term, after being suspended by the league while the legal process played out.
The KHL season began back in August and the teams are nearly a third of the way through the regular season.