Report: Kekäläinen Confirms Voronkov Homesick and Thinking of Returning To Russia

This could be a huge blow for the franchise

Aaron Portzline of The Athletic has confirmed via GM Jarmo Kekäläinen that forward Dmitri Voronkov is thinking of returning to Russia.

Per Kekäläinen via The Athletic, “We are dealing with it internally." Jarmo also said “It’s normal for a young player to feel homesick at times. And so we’re dealing with it.”

This could be a blow to a Columbus team who had been waiting for Voronkov to come to North America and play in the NHL. Voronkov has an out in his contract that says that if he's not on the NHL roster by the end of December, he could return to Russia. 

Voronkov currently has 9 points in 15 NHL games and has played very well with fellow Russian Kirill Marchenko and rookie Adam Fantilli. 

Kekäläinen has also said that they are going to continue to make Voronkov more comfortable by introducing him to more Russians in Columbus, as well as former CBJ Fedor Tyutin. Tyutin apparently helped Kirill Marchenko with this kind of situation as well. 

Jackets fans are praying the club can make this work and that Dmitri Voronkov will stay with Columbus. He is a major piece of this franchise and could very well challenge for the Calder Trophy this season.