By Jordan Long
The Las Vegas Golden Knights will be without defenseman Nate Schmidt for the first 20 games of the upcoming season. He has been suspended for violating the NHL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). Schmidt is allowed to participate in training camp, but will have to sit out preseason games.
This is a blow to the Knights defense. On offense Schmidt scored 5 goals and added 31 assists last year. He was valuable on the power play. Schmidt found his teammates open on the man advantage for goals. He had a total of 10 power play assists.
When it came to defense, Schmidt used his size at 6 feet to knock opponents off the puck ending scoring chances. Schmidt used his body to block shots. He also poke checked the puck away which started offensive rushes for the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights know how valuable he is to the defense. Schmidt is going to appeal the suspension. According to USAtoday.com Schmidt said, ”It was utterly shocking to be informed that I tested positive for a microscopic amount of a tainted substance. Not only did I not intentionally take a banned substance, I could not have received any performance enhancement benefit from the trace amount that inadvertently got into my system at a level that was far too small to have any effect. This low amount was consistent with environmental contamination that I could not possibly have prevented.”
Of course Schmidt is going to say this. He doesn’t want to be in trouble and needs to be out there helping his team on the ice. Schmidt contributes to the team and helps them win games. The fact of the matter is Schmidt failed a drug test. He needs to sit for his actions.
The NHL in general has one of the toughest PED policies in all of sports. The first time a player fails a test it is a 20-game suspension. The second positive test is 60 games. The third time they are banned from the NHL possibly for life but they are allowed to try for reinstatement in 2 years.
Schmidt knew he took something and should face the consequences of his actions. 20 games is a lot but it’s not the whole season. If the appeal is denied, he will have a chance to think about what he did wrong.
Leave a Reply