Voinov arrives
Late in the afternoon session, Viatcheslav Voinov, the Kings' second-round pick, hit the ice. He didn't participate in drills really, but his mere presence on the ice had to ease some minds. I'm told that both Voinov and draft pick Andrei Loktionov have gotten out of their Russian contracts and will not be impacted by the transfer agreement. Players such as Voinov and Loktionov had the right to escape their three-year contracts by giving 30-day notice, which they did. Apparently, it's been a rough go for these guys, as they've faced all sorts of threats and challenges from Russian officials. But they should be free to sign with the Kings. Loktionov has not arrived at camp -- and probably won't make it -- because of visa problems.
Bryan Cameron, who has been sick, was only on site but did not skate.
To clear up two questions...I'm not aware of any change in tomorrow's camp schedule, and I was told that Monday's scrimmage will be available on lakings.com in an archived form for those who can't watch it live.
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
for whatever reason, the Kings spelled it Voynov on the roster page on their website. maybe that's really the official phoenetic translation, maybe just a variation somebody copied and pasted from somewhere. but whatever just thought I'd point out the small discrepancy.
Very reassuring. I have a good feeling about both these guys, and hey, maybe all fro needs is some comrade competition to light a fire under his but and turn him into the 80-90 point scorer we all know he can be.
Its a shame that Voinov and Loktionov took so nuch crap from their own country for simply wanting to test themselves against the best in the world, but perhaps that gives them even more reason to play to their potential, just to prove the naysayers and the haters wrong. I'm sure they would love to flaunt the cup around Russia for a day!
What is the hold up with Loktionov? There were some whispers of him previously training in L.A. with Igor Larionov, I guess those are false?
he is with larionov. they never said if they are training or not but he is staying with him till he gets settled in the u.s and gets his contract in russia settled
If he was here with larionov, why would he need a visa to drive to el segundo? Must be he WAS staying with Larionov, who knows how long ago.
Brianguy- The cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters so there is no one way to spell some of these last names when translating to the English alphabet. It's not uncommon to see two ways to spell the same last name.
Damen... yeah I've noticed that before. this from the Kings' site (Jul 11th update page) so I assume he's going with a Y:
"With about 10 minutes left in practice, we had our first glimpse of Viatcheslav Voynov (that’s the official spelling by the way). Voynov, the Kings’ second round pick (32nd overall) in this year’s draft, obviously couldn’t get much work in today, but look for him to show off his skills tomorrow."
"Viatcheslav Voynov (that’s the official spelling by the way)."
I think the "official" spelling would be Vyatcheslav (or even Vyacheslav) Voynov , considering that's what it is on all the russian team rosters for international tournaments, you know, submitted by the russian teams themselves.
Good to hear he's over here and previoulsy opted out of his old contract- this kid is good and it should come as now surprise when he makes the team sooner than most think. As I understand it, though, players can't just opt out of their contracts anymore- the Russian Gov't changed that law last year. The contract has to be bought out now by the team they sign with. Rich, if you get a chance to ask one of the scouts or management 'bout this, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks for the report! Very good news here.