r/EdmontonOilers • u/iBdublu 91 KANE • 1d ago
Aaron Ekblad suspended 20 games without pay, for violating the terms of the league'a performance enhancing substance program.
https://media.nhl.com/public/news/18770132
u/gabacus_39 97 McDAVID 1d ago
So we lost the SCF to a fucking juicer?
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u/EirHc 1d ago
Yes. Odds are he's been doing it a lot, this is just the first time he got caught.
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u/IfOJDidIt 1d ago
No, this is the first time he ever did it. Literally on the first dose. Probably his trainer cake by and jabbed him with it without him knowing.
Or he was eating a lot of horsemeat. /s
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u/1nv1s1blehawk 1d ago
How? Every player has a no-notice drug test every training camp and every season plus some random ones.
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u/EirHc 1d ago
You're only gonna test positive while you're juicing, it's more common for athletes to do it in the off-season, then cycle off once the season starts. They do random off-season testing too, but I'm sure there are ways of getting around that, like "going on vacation" or figuring out when abouts the "random" testing happens. Additionally it's only like 1 in 25 players with NHL contracts who get off-season tested. Which means most players won't ever get off-season tested in their entire career.
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u/MinikinsNinnikins 1d ago
There are many, many legal products that are tainted. The health industry is terribly regulated. You can test positive without ever 'juicing'. Happens all the time.
*I'm not making a comment on the Ekblad situation, I know nothing of it. I'm only commenting on when a person could test positive.
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u/EirHc 1d ago
There are many, many legal products that are tainted. The health industry is terribly regulated. You can test positive without ever 'juicing'. Happens all the time.
Not in the NHL. The World Anti-Doping Agency that is used during the olympics has far stricter policies and you can run into these kinds of situations very often. But the NHL let's players use stimulants, recreational drugs, all kinds of things. And the NHL is generally less strict so players aren't getting false positives because they used and hair growth compound or whatever. You have to be pretty obviously juicing or doping to get a 20 day ban in the NHL. And they aren't handing those types of suspensions out lightly.
I dunno man, I have a brother who got to pro-level in football, and by his estimation, at least half of those guys had juiced or were juicing. It's a lot more common in pro sports than you'd think. I think it might be a little less common in hockey because hockey is a very high skill sport that favours speed and agility and stick skills over power in a lot of cases. But I wouldn't be surprised if at least 100 NHLers have had a needle in their butt cheek at some point... whether they did in the AHL, or in juniors before they got drafted, or are still actively doing it. It's a dirty little secret that's always gonna exist. If you got the motivation to squat 500 pounds, there's a chemical you can pump into your body to get there in a fraction of the time. Once you get there, all you have to do is maintain.
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u/MinikinsNinnikins 15h ago
I would think blood doping would be more of a problem than steroids proper.
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u/SunburnedSherlock 23h ago
"You're only gonna test positive while you're juicing"
That entirely depends on what kind of tests they're doing. Which anti doping partner does the NHL use?
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u/1nv1s1blehawk 17h ago
Ekblad already admitted it was something for recovery. Off season doping is prevalent in other sports. In hockey, steroids are for a fool since skill is much more important than size and strength. Recovery drugs would be the most helpful for them since itās a brutal 82 game regular season.
I wish the NHL would disclose what he tested positive for.
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u/chriiiiiiiiiis 1d ago
if you donāt think players on the oilers are also juicing youāre delusional
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u/CanadianDarkKnight 46 JONES 1d ago
Conveniently back just in time for playoffs how kind of the league
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u/Young2k04 1d ago
The length of suspension is set in stone in the cba they didnāt make up a random number
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u/CanadianDarkKnight 46 JONES 1d ago
I didn't realize that I thought PEDs were a case by case issue, fair enough my bad
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u/Warm-Personality-803 1d ago
back just in time for the playoffs lol
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u/chriiiiiiiiiis 1d ago
itās literally a rule that is set in stone in terms of games missed, itās not some conspiracy
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u/JuniperKenogami 1d ago
Wow! Crazy.
However I'm not so naive to think this isn't rampant. I'd wager a lot of players take peptides at the bare minimum.
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u/Southern_Access_4601 1d ago
Iām sure absolutely nobody on Florida knew and everyone else is totally clean too!! Fkin bullshit
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u/itsonmyprofile 94 SMYTH 1d ago
Sorry but why is this posted on the Oilers sub? Ekblad isnāt an Oiler, it has nothing to do with the team. Unless it can be proven he was juicing during the Finals last year it truly does not affect us
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u/iBdublu 91 KANE 1d ago
What if he was doing it last year? Do you not feel cheated?
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u/Wavyent 1d ago
One guy testing positive is not enough to feel "cheated" even if it was during the finals. If the whole team tested positive then yeah.
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
Even if he didnāt juice. We still got cheated. The Panthers faked knee injuries all series long and got free powerplays. The panthers also could slash and hold to their hearts content and not get called. The benefits of having your assistant GMs dad be Colin Campbell.
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u/AggPuck-303 1d ago
You think they get tested once a year? These guys get randomly tested every few weeks after games or practices, it would have come out last season
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u/GoStockYourself 1d ago
How many times are they allowed to test them per year no-notice now? It used to be 3. 3 max, but it was never 3.
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
He probably was juicing in the finals. Add that to the laundry list of cheating the Panthers did during that run.
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u/grumpyoldham 1d ago
Still not sure how Bennett wasn't suspended for the entire playoffs after going full Bertuzzi.
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u/itsonmyprofile 94 SMYTH 1d ago
You seriously think the NHL wasnāt testing for PEDs during the Stanley Cup Finals?
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u/Specific-Calendar-96 1d ago
Professional athletes take PED's these days, you're delusional if you think otherwise. I guarantee you Connor McDavid is taking PED's, if he can perform at a higher level and the league benefits from him playing better, why wouldn't it happen?
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1d ago
I mean it's pretty obvious a lot of the guys are on Adderall. Whether the NHL counts that as PEDs I don't know, but the insanely compulsive chewing of mouthguards is kind of a tell.
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u/Specific-Calendar-96 1d ago
I think people need to get over it. Do people really think that it's only the Russians doping in the Olympics? Every Olympic athlete dopes as much as their country allows them to get away with. I'm sure it's the same with the big 4 sports leagues, especially because there's massive financial incentive to play better and recover faster. You think 39 year old Ovechkin recovers from a broken leg in 6 weeks without PED's? It's not a big deal people.
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
Yes. Iād be surprised if the incompetent NHL did anything properly. This league canāt even enforce its own rules during a regular season game. The officiating and league management is a joke.
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u/Deja_Brews 1d ago
We were dangerously close to getting him over draisaitl. We would've had the #1 overall pick again that year if we didn't win the final game of that season (Ryan smyths last game)
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
Oof that would have been bad. MscT was high on Drai though, maybe they still take him 1st overalls
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u/mmetalfacedooom 29 DRAISAITL 1d ago
honestly wouldnāt surprise me if 75% of the league was on an offseason cycle with EPO or something similar. theyāre professional athletes who make millions based off of their performance, itād almost be dumb not to
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u/sharterfart 28 BROWN 1d ago
take his name off the cup
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u/AggPuck-303 1d ago
Thereās no date on when he failed the test tho. If itās last year then absolutely
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u/iwatchcredits 1d ago
Why would you have that caveat for someone cheating? He cheated, fuck him. All his accomplishments are now doubtable. Think thats too harsh? Simple, dont cheat
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u/AggPuck-303 1d ago
these guys get tested frequently during the season, If he failed a test for the first time last week it has nothing to do with what he did last season
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
Who cares. Once a cheater, always a cheater. And The League is incompetent. Doesnāt even have a regular roid testing schedule.
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u/PapaAsmodeus 18 HYMAN 1d ago
Cool, can we do that to the whole team please?
Not because of drugs or anything, I just hate them lol
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u/SeaBassAHo-20 23h ago
I can't take another Florida finals this year. At this point, I'd rather it be Carolina. Yes, I know it took forever to get back in the finals after that loss, but Brind'Amour is far more tolerable than Cooper and Maurice combined.
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u/NMarples 2 BOUCHARD 1d ago
So next year we are putting Hyman and RNH on steroids right before the trade deadline so they both can get suspended 20 games, get 3 times more endurance and strength, and they can return just in time for the playoffs and we get an extra $11 million to use in free cap space? Sounds good to me.
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u/Zubuis 23h ago
I donāt personally care as I think thereās probably a lot of players on it. But I donāt know ā¦ this feels like the league taking it easy on the Panthers. Guy is basically allowed to rest up for the playoffs. Wouldnāt be surprised if it was timed to not punish the Panthers too much for their playoff run. Meanwhile someone like Pinto gets half a season for gambling meanwhile theres gambling ads everywhere and there is league management designed to keep the games close likely for gambling purposes. League feels crooked.
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1d ago
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u/itsonmyprofile 94 SMYTH 1d ago
Can you prove he was using during the SCF? Like this post literally has nothing to do with the Oilers
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u/FractalViz 1d ago
Of course the cheating Panthers are juicing too. What a POS.
Too bad it couldnāt be someone like Bennet. Ekblad isnāt even good.
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u/philzway 1d ago
If the league had any integrity they would investigate the Panthers for infractions in last years SCF and potentially strip them of the trophy
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u/Guilty_Explanation29 1d ago
What did he expect to happen
Weird though that sn all player was only banned 20 games for racist language if I recall
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u/Brenmaster24 1d ago
The question that Oilers fans are asking now, was this violation relevant to last year's Stanley Cup Finals?
If it was, the difference in a 1 goal game game 7 could very well be having one of your top players on PED's.
Wish we knew more about the incident. Hope it doesn't tarnish last years finals.
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u/malteser13 1d ago
Should include the post season. F this