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Jarret Stoll, Slava Voynov arrests part of Kings’ season of disarray

Kings center Jarret Stoll passes the puck during a win over the Edmonton Oilers at Staples Center on April 2.

Kings center Jarret Stoll passes the puck during a win over the Edmonton Oilers at Staples Center on April 2.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
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September and training camp passed, almost uneventfully for the Kings.

And so did the first six games of the season.

After that, nothing was quite the same after their 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 19. By the next morning, defenseman Slava Voynov was in custody and would not play another game the rest of the season.

Their season ended on April 11 -- the Kings missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009 -- and less than a week later, one of the team’s core players, center Jarret Stoll, was arrested in Las Vegas for suspected drug possession.

A partial timeline of a Kings’ season of disarray:

Oct. 20: Voynov was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and immediately suspended by the NHL. In fact, the NHL broke the story by announcing the indefinite suspension and its release came out even before Voynov was released from custody on $50,000 bail that morning. He had been arrested after taking his wife Marta Varlamova to an emergency room in Torrance.

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Oct. 28: With star center Anze Kopitar injured, the Kings were forced to play a player short against the Flyers. They were unable to get immediate salary-cap relief for Voynov and not able to get a replacement that night because they were so close to the salary-cap ceiling.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi was clearly displeased, saying: “It’s one thing for the player to have to pay a penalty. It’s another thing for 19 other guys to have to go out there shorthanded.”

Nov. 20: Voynov was charged with one felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury in connection with the alleged incident in October at his Redondo Beach home. Varlamova’s attorney said she was “stunned by the news” and did not believe he was guilty of a crime. Voynov would later enter a plea of not guilty.

Dec. 2: The Kings were fined $100,000 by the league when Voynov took part in a morning skate with his teammates, saying the activity was “in direct contravention of terms of the suspension levied on Oct. 20.”

Feb. 9: After a victory at Tampa Bay, the Kings, who had been slumping, held a players-only meeting and kept out Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, apparently barricading the door with trash receptacles. The New York Post reported the incident but said it happened near the end of the season, which it did not. Sutter would also curtail the access of a TV crew following the team on the Road to the Stadium Series.

March 30: Defenseman Andrej Sekera, the key acquisition for the Kings at the trade deadline, hurt his knee in the second period at Chicago and did not return. That would be his final game of the season. They lost to the Blackhawks that night and would be officially eliminated from the playoffs after dropping the second-to-last game of the regular season at Calgary on April 9.

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April 1: Voynov’s domestic violence trial is delayed until July 6 by Judge Eric C. Taylor. Voynov arrives at Los Angeles County Superior Court in Torrance on crutches after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles’ tendon he suffered the previous week.

April 17: Stoll, a member of the Kings’ two Stanley Cup championship teams, was arrested on suspicion of drug possession at the Wet Republic pool complex at the MGM Grand hotel. The news was first reported by the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, saying the arrest was on suspicion of cocaine and Ecstasy. He would later be released on Friday night.

The Wet Republic was where the Kings’ players, including Stoll, took the Stanley Cup to celebrate with much fanfare in 2012. There was another celebration at the same pool when they won again in 2014.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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