NHL Drug Testing Policy Non-Existent For Playoffs, Offseason
The NHL's performance-enhancing drug policy, enacted three years ago as part of the league's CBA with the NHLPA, "does not permit testing during the playoffs" or offseason, according to Reed & Wagner of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. The NHL and the union decided "to exclude playoff testing because of potential distraction for teams," though some NHL officials and players said that they would "support a stronger, year-round testing program." The issue of "revamping the league's drug-testing policy was raised" at the GMs meeting in March, and is "expected to come up this summer" at the NHLPA meetings as well. Both sides would have to agree to any changes in the policy. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said that the league "would back year-round testing." Daly: "The league would be supportive of enhancing the scope of the policy." But Penguins C Sidney Crosby, like many other players, "favors the status quo," arguing that the "postseason is rife with distractions, and urinating in a cup would add to the list." Crosby: "It would be a headache for a player after a playoff game maybe having to wait around seeing if they could go to the bathroom." But Red Wings D Chris Chelios "not only favors year-round vigilance but also advocates blood testing." Chelios: "It's obvious this is a problem, maybe not necessarily in hockey, but in other sports, and we should have zero tolerance for it." Reed & Wagner noted former NHLer Sean Hill is the only player to have tested positive for a banned substance since the policy went into effect. Doping experts contend that the NHL policy is "'woefully inadequate' and too flawed to allow a judgment on what percentage of players might be using steroids." Penn State Univ. professor Charles Yesalis, a steroid expert, said, "You would have to be an idiot to get caught under a system like that -- an absolute moron" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 4/19).
REASONS TO USE EXIST: ESPN.com's Paul Kix wrote apparently it is "too much of a distraction to pee in a cup during the off-season," allowing players "five months to wash out whatever." WADA recently estimated that "one-third of all players" in the NHL use performance-enhancing drugs, and Kix wrote it is "not hard to see why." Hockey has the "physicality of football but the manic schedule of basketball; try to recover in time for tomorrow night's game with only an ice pack and a whirlpool treatment." Because of its TV ratings, the NHL "needs every last limping star on the ice these days." Kix: "Guess we're saying that we don't necessarily advocate steroid use. But we understand why no one will question any hockey player until the fall" (ESPN.com, 4/20).
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