Voinov to juniors?
After the draft, Dean Lombardi praised second-round pick Vyacheslav Voinov for his willingness to come to North American and play junior hockey, if necessary. It seems as though it's going to happen. A story in the Times & Transcript, a newspaper based out of New Brunswick, indicated that Voinov will be at the start of training camp for the Moncton Wildcats when camp opens Aug. 29.
Moncton selected Voinov with the fifth overall selection in the Canadian Hockey League import draft.
``All indications are they'll both be at camp,'' Moncton coach Danny Flynn said, speaking of Voinov and fellow Russian import Alexander Fomin. ``Voinov just arrived in Ottawa on the weekend. He's training there because that's where his agent lives.''
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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.
Cool.
What about the other Russian we drafted. I forgot his name.
I'm excited about Vojnov- liked what I saw during the prospect's game. After just arriving the night before from Russia, he looked pretty steady, very smooth, didn't get rattled under forechecking pressure. I wish he could play in Manchester, but NA juniors will be good for him, too.
Going to Moncton's camp doesn't mean that's where he'll stay for the season. Voinov can play in Manchester- the CHL-NHL transfer applies to players drafted out of the CHL only- Voinov was drafted into the CHL after the Kings picked him so it does not apply to him.
He'll probably end up in Manchester and that's where he should be. I think it's good for him to go to Moncton's camp to get more time playing in the N.A. style, and some more time for the Kings to get a fix on his level of play relative to other players his age.
Who knows how the NHL-KHL thing is going to play out, but i'm glad to hear that Voinov is already overseas.
This is good news! I get very excited when I think about our future defensive core.
Is the assumption then that he won't be attending the King camp in the middle of September?
Anon,
Andrei Loktionov was also drafted by the Kings. He is also property of the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. All indications are that he will play for them. But who knows?
Good news that Voinov will be playing in North America this year. Hopefully Loktionov is close behind. Looks like they're both keeping their promises to Dean Lombardi.
triplcrown said:
Voinov (Vojnov) played in the Russian Elite league,
with & against *men* the last 2 seasons.
He might be a heck of an impact player in Canadian MJ,
with probably no one over 21.
Here's his team the last 2 years (note age of
other players):
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0022052008.html
Click on the season/year on top of page & check out the other players in that league also--Including NHL veterans & guys like Jan Marek (remember him?)
Voinov (or Vojnov, whatever) could really make some noise in Junior this season.
Every Kings' season gets more interesting
than the last. Having so many
good prospects in the pipeline does that.
damn.
Hey Rich, could you ask again about O'Sullivan and Stoll. Is it time to worry yet? Thanks!
I like this move. I think he's just there to get extra practice & training before Kings training camp in September.
DL said the guy would have gone in the first round if not for the transfer issues, and it's hard to imagine a 1st round caliber pick not being invited to training camp.
I think this is more to get him used to the NA ice surface than anything else... That's all I'm reading into it at this time... If he makes the final cuts for the big roster...it's purely a bonus situation...