Was Milbury's Comments About Voynov Out of Line?

Looks like a former LA King who's currently playing on the Olympic team for the Olympic Athletes from Russia is making some headlines, thanks in part to noted controversial analyst and former player Mike Tilbury.

Let's set this up. Before Slava Voynov went to the Olympics this year for that team, he was actually a member of the Los Angeles Kings before a 2014 arrest for domestic violence left him indefinitely suspended and then was released by the Kings. A judge had sentenced him to 90 days in jail, and based on what we know, it seemed he served it.

In the contest between Team USA and the Olympic Athletes from Russia, Milbury called the incident "unfortunate." This was while he was providing commentary for that game, alongside play-by-play guy Kenny Albert.

Now this may raise some eyebrows, considering Milbury's past comments, including one about Corey Perry that pissed me off. At the time, Corey Perry was having a great season and was leading the Ducks far into the playoffs. Milbury, at one point during that run, noted that somebody from another should hit Perry in the head, cause a concussion, and take him out of the game. I found it to be rather inexcusable and a complete blatant disregard for the current rules today. He has also gone after Capitals great Alex Ovechkin a couple times for acting like a baby, as well as other players, especially tough guys, for their current play in the times where hitting people in the head deems a suspension.

Now, for this particular one, it seemed Milbury just seemed to disregard the accusations, just based on his comments alone, but we know Slava Voynov pleaded guilty to this and was sentenced to jail, which means it's no laughing matter, and it's not something that we can just set aside as something unfortunate. This is a big deal.

Now my question in the title was: Was it out of line? Absolutely. Everything nowadays, especially with domestic violence and the #MeToo movement, is always out of line. You can't say this stuff while we're going through what we're going through. Yes, it may seem unfortunate, and yes, it did leave the LA Kings in the tough spot to release him following that, but the Kings had no choice. Now, Milbury did say that the Kings could've won more titles with him had he stayed on the Kings, but I wasn't so sure that would've happened, plus I didn't think the Kings took the long-term future with Voynov's latest accusations in mind. They had to do what they had to do, and yes it did leave a void.

Voynov is understandably getting heat himself for actually being in the Olympics after all this, though many of his Olympic athletes have defended him and said that he should be there, though many have said in these times, he shouldn't have taken the offer.

Unfortunately in all of this, what Milbury did was not necessary, despite the fact that he might have been telling the truth. Look, in the #MeToo movement that we're in, we can't call anything of this sort an 'unfortunate incident.' Everything of this sort is above that range now, and we have to make sure that getting through this period, we be more careful with our words and actions. Milbury may have tried to say the right thing, but we're not in the period where we're allowed to do it, no matter if it's truthful or not.