What's Up with All the Off-Ice Incidents in 2015?

Pro hockey guys, as a rule, are considered some of the most down-to-earth athletes around. Especially when you compare them to a sport like NFL football, where it seems like some linebacker or wide receiver is getting arrested every other day. This offseason, however, has been a little out of the ordinary, and a lot of hockey guys have been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The Los Angeles Kings, unfortunately for them, have gotten into the most trouble.

The Slava Voynov saga began last October, when the Russian defender dropped the gloves with his wife, and ended this summer with his voluntary return back to his home country.

Early this summer, fellow King Jarret Stoll decided he was tired of his fiancé getting all the TV airtime and got himself on the news with some sort of white-powdery-drug arrest while on vacation. (Also, love how he's just referred to as "Erin Andrews' beau" in the headline of the last link.)

Not to be outdone, the underperforming disappointment that is Kings center Mike Richards got caught at the US-Canadian border with a bunch of OxyContin, a painkiller that it seems he doesn’t have a prescription for.

None of the three guys mentioned above are with the team anymore. Voynov preemptively left the country (ahead of almost certain deportation), Stoll signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent, and Richards’ contract was terminated by the Kings (the NHLPA is investigating the circumstances, and frankly I think they have a great case…but I digress). I don’t now if it’s just the Hollywood culture or what, but head coach Darryl Sutter needs to get his locker room in order quick, before they suffer another embarrassing season and miss the playoffs for the second straight year.

But the off-ice incidents don’t stop in LA. Predators forward Mike Ribeiro settled a lawsuit from his kids’ former nanny, who said he assaulted her, and was rewarded with a 2 year/$7-million extension in Nashville. If the details from the court documents are true, Ribeiro is one sick dude.

Newly acquired Sabre Ryan O’Reilly celebrated his new 7-year contract by getting housed and driving his new truck into a Tim Horton’s. Not only was he a danger to himself and those around him, he desecrated a cherished Canadian icon in the process.

And let’s not leave out the clusterfuck of accusations that is the Patrick Kane rape investigation. Between the victim bashing, the public judgments and the elaborate hoax concocted by the victim’s mother, the media has correctly labeled the proceedings a “circus.” Kane has still not been charged and remains with the Blackhawks, and the fact of the matter is nobody knows what actually happened yet. Whether he is guilty or innocent, the unwanted attention can’t be good for Kane or his teammates in the locker room going into their title defense.

I have no idea what's going on with these guys, but hopefully the epidemic of off-ice incidents doesn't spread any more.