So, Colorado Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov spends a night in jail after being accused of beating his girlfriend, and then not only travels with the Avs to Dallas but gets the start and the win?

Well, guess all this is working out swell for Varlamov and the Avs.

Do the optics of the situation bother anyone anywhere in the Avalanche organization, or in the NHL, for that matter?

Everyone understands the presumption of innocence. We're all for that. It's a vital cog in the machinery of our society.

Semyon Varlamov traded a yellow jumpsuit for an Avs uniform far too quickly, and the team looks bad because of it. AP Photo/The Denver Post, RJ Sangosti

But presumption of innocence does not necessarily mean to go ahead and do whatever you want or, more to the point when it comes to the Avs and Varlamov, to go ahead and try to collect a few more points while we get this whole guilt or innocence thing straightened out.

You know what happens to police officers and teachers and lots of other people when they get charged with a crime, especially one involving alleged acts of violence? Yes, they are protected by the presumption of innocence. But police officers don't go back on the beat right away -- they are reassigned to desk duty. Teachers who are charged with violent crimes don't go right back to talking about Christopher Columbus and the Civil War in the classroom. Not two days later, anyway.

But NHL goalies? Well, Varlamov proves that regardless of the third-degree assault and second-degree kidnapping charges, and his girlfriend's reported claims that the netminder laughed at times while drunkenly beating and kicking her, life goes on pretty much as normal for a hockey star.

Does Varlamov's version of what happened between the two vary? Presumably very much. Still, we were more than a little taken aback when the Avs looked at the allegations and, rather than taking a hard look at not only the specific incident but the larger issue of domestic violence and its public perception, they opted to get their goaltender back on the ice. Right away.

That coach Patrick Roy fell back on the old cliché about supporting a teammate during a tough time was more than a little off-putting, as well.

The hockey community as a whole -- everyone, including fans and agents and writers and management and sales staff and others -- isn't just a bunch of guys hanging out in a locker room and playing a game. The community is much broader that that and the actions of players have greater implications.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that one in four women will experience some form of domestic abuse, and that the vast majority of abuse cases are never reported to police. The group estimates 1.3 million U.S. women are the subject of physical assault at the hands of an "intimate partner" annually.

What about those women whose lives intersect with the hockey world who have already made the painful decision to report being the victim of abuse? How would they feel if the subject of their complaint was treated similarly, allowed to go on with his life as though nothing happened?

Varlamov's agent, Paul Theofanous, told ESPN's Craig Custance via email shortly after the situation came to light last week that "my client Semyon Varlamov is completely innocent of all of these charges." He might well be.

And we're sure Theofanous is privy to many things about this incident the public and media are not. But it is likewise a certainty that Theofanous does not know absolutely whether his client is guilty or innocent, regardless of what he's been told or may think.