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Kings Lock Up D Slava Voynov for Six Years, $25 Million

The first offseason domino has fallen for the Los Angeles Kings. Fortunately, it’s a good one. The Kings announced today Slava Voynov has been re-signed to a deal worth $25 million over six years. See the full team announcement here.

Most of you know the story, but we’ll go over it anyway. Slava Voynov burst onto the scene during the tail end of the 2011-12 season, stepping into the role vacated by Jack Johnson and excelling in his first year in the NHL. Voynov got his name on the Stanley Cup and, though his scoring wasn’t through the roof, his steady playoff performance served notice to the league that he was a player to watch.

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So what did he do to follow that up? He exceeded all expectations in 2012-13, leading the Kings’ defensemen in scoring and logging the second-highest ice time of any King. In the playoffs, he reached another level, sharing the team lead in goals and points with Jeff Carter. He scored four game-winners, setting a franchise record, including an overtime winner in Game 5 on the road in St. Louis.

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It was expected that the playoff run and Voynov’s increased notoriety around the NHL would result in a big contract. $25 million is certainly big, but judging by the reactions around the Internet, people seems to be pleased with the deal. We’d love to hear any and all opinions in the comments.

By the way, where does Dean Lombardi go from here? The Kings are left with $7,675,606 to fill eight roster spots, according to CapGeek. This contract doesn’t handcuff the Kings by any means, but it might price out Rob Scuderi and Dustin Penner. It certainly prices out at least one of them, but we knew we weren’t keeping both of them anyway, right?

Anyway, let us know what you think of the deal… and of having both Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov on the blueline for six more years.

Six years, $25 million for Voynov. Thoughts?

Reasonable contract, given the market 79
Lombardi overpaid, he hasn’t proven himself yet 4
It’s a bargain, for a guy with Voynov’s skills 83
Not sure, I will withhold judgment for now 9
SLAAAAVVVVAAAAAAAA 93

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