Very few believe that former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov will get the chance to play in the NHL ever again, regardless of the outcome of his ongoing domestic abuse trial in Redondo Beach.

What many believe is the bigger concern, though, isn’t whether the NHL will sign him again — it’s whether the KHL will. The Russian league is desperate for both big name talent and homegrown skaters, making an exiled Voynov seem like the poster child for a league with more and more teams struggling to perenially turn a profit.

Every KHL club will likely have a different policy on the matter — but for HC Traktor Chelyabinsk, the top tier club in Voynov’s hometown, a stance has already been taken.

HC Traktor has taken on a somewhat Westernized approach to how the team is run, with club vice president Sergei Gomolyako hosting his first-ever online town hall meeting. Similar to the meeting held by ICE Arizona in Glendale this past spring, Gomolyako took a barrage of questions sent his way and published them with answers — and he was surprisingly open about everything from the league’s policies (both those that he agrees with and those that he doesn’t) to the club’s plans for the roster.

Some answers he gave are somewhat mundane to North American hockey fans. He expressed a desire to see more homegrown talent on the roster (although admitted that he hasn’t recently seen a local player display an equivocal talent level to that of Chelyabinsk native and Dallas Stars forward Valeri Nichushkin), but made it clear that he wouldn’t make that happen through the signing of Voynov. Interpreted via translation from the published online conference:

Question submitted by Vitaly Atyushov: … due to his lengthy suspension in the NHL, could you discuss the likelihood of Slava Voynov being given an opportunity to play for the home club in Traktor this season or the next? Gomolyako: As we have already discussed, it is unrealistic to bring him back to Traktor.

Gomolyako doesn’t expand on the answer any more than he does other highly specific or probing questions (which include his allusion to the team’s impending announcement of two North American signings later this week), but it’s a surprisingly clear answer given the unclear status of Voynov’s trial. The complications resulting from the hesitancy of Voynov’s wife to testify in court have dragged out the process longer than expected, and there’s still no concrete indication that Marta Varlamova will end up testifying.

Traktor Chelyabinsk isn’t one of the KHL’s most financially stable clubs by a long shot. Fans are growing increasingly worried about the consequence of the talent exodus from the region — and as a result, it may seem like a shock that the club’s vice president would fail to give a placating, ambiguous response to inquiries about the top pairing blue liner. He’s certainly the most likely returnee of high-profile NHL talent to that particular club.

Other answers given throughout Gomolyako’s Q and A session, though, were consistent with what seems to be a management team hoping for a shifting league dynamic.

In addition to his assertion that Voynov wouldn’t be back in the Traktor lineup any time soon, Gomolyako was open in his admittance that he’s a supporter of policy reform in regards to North American players.

“Yes, I believe hockey players are overpaid,” admitted Gomolyako in response to inquiries about the league’s exorbitant salaries for homegrown skaters. “I would like to see the league remove the limits on foreign players. Children have ambition to feel powerful. [Our children head overseas or to the NHL because] every hockey player would rather play in the strongest league in the world.”

His views aren’t universal, and Traktor isn’t one of the KHL’s top teams. Seeing a candid, open-forum dialogue with the club’s fans, though — which even addressed the lighter questions, as Gomolyako joked that ‘every player has a nicer car than him, because he doesn’t drive’ — is telling of the gradual realization by Russian club executives and owners that the KHL’s survival relies upon the league maintaining pace with the rest of the elite hockey leagues worldwide. No longer will national pride be the strongest factor keeping skaters on home soil — the question now remains whether or not a shift to more Westernized policies will make the league attractive enough to outside talent to keep it afloat.