Aaron Ekblad suspended 20 games forviolating Performance Enhancing Substances Program

[Bubba17]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Doesn't sound like a painkiller. Failed a PED test, so it was some sort of a steroid or similar. It's a lame excuse.

I don't think his comment was an excuse. He admitted he took it but didn't check with the doctors to see if it would cause him to fail the test.

If he was in baseball or football he would have blamed the training staff or gym owner who gave him something with steroids and scream about his innocence.

Maybe he got something from Nate Schmidt to perk him up thru the season!

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Of course Oilers fans are already whining saying he was drugged up in the finals.

Don't tell me McDavid wasn't on something....

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Bubba17

I don't think his comment was an excuse. He admitted he took it but didn't check with the doctors to see if it would cause him to fail the test.

If he was in baseball or football he would have blamed the training staff or gym owner who gave him something with steroids and scream about his innocence.

Maybe he got something from Nate Schmidt to perk him up thru the season!

Depends on what he was taking. You think he would be asking the team Dr hey can you inject me with some tren?

[Bubba17]

There haven't been very many suspensions for PED's in the NHL. The 4 most recent were Zenon Konopka, Jared Tinordi, Shawn Horcoff and Nate Schmidt (Elblads new teammate this season).

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Bubba17

There haven't been very many suspensions for PED's in the NHL. The 4 most recent were Zenon Konopka, Jared Tinordi, Shawn Horcoff and Nate Schmidt (Elblads new teammate this season).

Good thing they weeded out the four players who have taken drugs this past decade.

[Jay Random]

A lot of the more common PEDs are counterproductive for hockey players anyway, since they tend to make you put on muscle weight in places where you don't need it, which slows you down. The perfect build for a hockey player is something like Martin St. Louis – a stick with two tree trunks for legs.

Something like BPC-157, of course, is ideal for hockey players, since recovering from injuries is a regular part of the job. But I highly doubt Ekblad was just taking that without supervision from the team doctors. If he was on that or something similar, he's lying to cover their arses.

We shall see what develops. Or overdevelops, as the case may be.

[Rejean31]

McTempertantrum grabs the Sabres players stick and hangs on for dear life and somehow the Buffalo player ends up with the penalty.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

McTempertantrum grabs the Sabres players stick and hangs on for dear life and somehow the Buffalo player ends up with the penalty.

Must be the steroids.

[Saqe]

I wonder if this is the nail in the coffin for Ekblad in Florida. Missing him for 20 games is a big deal when they're trying to win the division and it's going to look pretty bad if they don't with him out of the lineup. Plus the two playoff games.

[fotze2]

Maybe he just had Couplebeers and a little bump at the four nations break.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by fotze2

Maybe he just had Couplebeers and a little bump at the four nations break.

Ekblad dun bad!

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bubba17

I don't think his comment was an excuse. He admitted he took it but didn't check with the doctors to see if it would cause him to fail the test.

If he was in baseball or football he would have blamed the training staff or gym owner who gave him something with steroids and scream about his innocence.

Maybe he got something from Nate Schmidt to perk him up thru the season!

Not checking with the docs is a lame excuse for either being absolutely a moron or not wanting to get a "don't take that" from them.

[browna]

Sounds like some sort of supplement.

Good chance the Panthers knew this was coming too, getting Jones the way they did.

Such an league offense means he's now officially qualified for the Oilers to be very interested in the offseason.

[fotze2]

Saw some scuttlebutt that the Islanders Reddit broke this back in June and it wasn’t just Ekblad but others in the team. I’m not a Reddit guy so no idea if valid or just coincidence.

[bluejays]

I can see how an honest mistake can be made with anyone just being lazy and not following protocol, but I do find it odd that the past year or so there were rumours the Panthers were more than willing to move on from Ekblad. They seemed to come from nowhere. He could've been slowing down and decided it was worth the risk.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by bluejays

I can see how an honest mistake can be made with anyone just being lazy and not following protocol, but I do find it odd that the past year or so there were rumours the Panthers were more than willing to move on from Ekblad. They seemed to come from nowhere. He could've been slowing down and decided it was worth the risk.

I think that may have been reading too much into it. With his UFA coming up, the Panthers had to make a choice anyway. He's a RD and someone was going to throw a ton of money at him.

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Well, they could trade for a D-man to get them through the remainder of the regular season, knowing that Ekblad will definitely be back for their 3rd playoff game.

Barrie is for a 1st; Flames, kindly help them out.

The trade deadline was last week

[Funkhouser]

Good, it will drop his price on July 1 since the Flames will sign him to join FLA NW.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Saqe

I wonder if this is the nail in the coffin for Ekblad in Florida. Missing him for 20 games is a big deal when they're trying to win the division and it's going to look pretty bad if they don't with him out of the lineup. Plus the two playoff games.

Yeah, people are saying it’s a not a big penalty to the Panthers. But if they fall off the pace, they’ll be playing the Leafs or Lighting in the first round, instead of the Sens or Devils. And if that’s the case, I could see them being down 0-2 before he’s back. It’s a big setback for the team.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by BigThief

The trade deadline was last week

Teams can still trade players after the TDL, though, those players cannot play in the playoffs for their new team. My flippant proposal would be to have Barrie play Florida's remaining regular season games in place of Ekblad.