How many of these athletes are on the juice?

Question

The feel good story of the baseball season, Rick Ankiel-cheater. Troy Glaus- cheater. It's starting to seem like every baseball player was/is juiced.
What % of NHL players do you think have tried steroids?

Yard nome- Steroids were not legal in 2004.

Lubers- Just because it wasn't a banned substance in MLB, doesn't make it legal though. I know there are people who need it prescribed and from my understanding, it is because their body does not produce enough testosterone naturally-David Segui, former major leaguer fits this bill but it is not handed out just to recover from an injury-while I suppose it may have been, but that is unethical and illegal.

Answer 1

Well Bob, you've really opened up a can of worms with this one, as much as I would like to think none of the players in the NHL juice, I'm sure some of them do, there are cheaters in every sport, and I'm sure the allure of money and fame will do that to some people. It just seems to me, that Hockey is a more clean sport, and the players are more pure, forgive me for thinking innocent, like I said, I would like to "think" my favorite sport is better than the rest. I would say between 2% and 4%

Answer 2

Probably more than we believe, but no where near the baseball numbers. I will put the number low, less than 2%. When I was playing in the late 80's, early 90's, they were very available and many players used them, at least prior to reaching the NHL. Given the baseball stories in recent years, I still find it unlikely that the hockey numbers are anywhere near the baseball numbers. There is no way that it could not have leaked out by this point if there were more.

I am not sure I am willing to declare Ankiel a cheater just yet though. To my understanding, he was rehabbing an injury and the HGH was prescribed by a doctor. Additionally, at the time it was not a banned substance by MLB. IMO, that is a far cry from obtaining them illegally, shooting up in a locker room and sharing them with your teammates. Basically, he was not breaking baseball's rules, nor was he doing anything illegal. I could be wrong, I am sure there will be more details released that will probably change my opinion. I have not heard enough about Glaus to form an opinion yet.

pmunny: Steriods can absolutely help a hockey player just as much as any other athlete. One of the biggest gains from steroids is recovery time, something that any athlete can use. While you would be correct that it is possible for a hockey player to bulk up too much, they would help leg strength in the same way it does a cyclist or runner and upper body strength for a football or baseball player.

formerly: I agree with most of your points, except for two. First, how can you say that endurance is not a key aspect of hockey? You could not be more incorrect about that. Yes, they do it in short bursts but they do it repeatedly throughout the game and the top players in the game might get 30 seconds of rest between shifts or none if they are double shifting, especially when the game is on the line and they do it every other night for 6 months per year. Look at track and field, the world record in the 100 meters has been stripped how many times because of steroid use and they only go for 10 seconds?
Second, steroids do not make your muscles grow just by taking them, I believe HGH may be different, I don't know enough about them to make a definitive statement. Steroids primarily enable you to recover faster so you can work out more and for longer periods of time.

I agree that even prior to the current era of the NHL too much bulk was not good for a hockey player but I can state from first hand experience that hockey players have taken steroids and made improvements to their skating as a result.

Bob: Point taken. I was simply stating that from the initial reports I heard which were the AM edition ESPN reports, it sounded as if it could have been on the up and up. I know absolutely nothing about HGH and it's uses aside from what I have learned from the Bond's scandal. The part that struck me as odd was the part about his prescription being for a year's worth. I was just saying I intend to let this play out a little longer to find out whether his prescription was for legitimate purposes or not. I should have said "If he was not doing anything illegal" rather than "he was not doing anything illegal". I am not a person who gives Bond's a pass because it was not against MLB's rules, he still broke the law.

Answer 3

Well, a subject that I have tried to avoid.

I believe that there are players in the NHL on steroids, I also believe that none of these players take a regular shift.

The NHL has come a long way since the 70s and 80s in way of conditioning. Back in the 70s and 80s, players such as Guy Lafleur and Denis Savard couldn't wait to get out of the arena so they could have a smoke as both were heavy smokers (and several others were). This is non-existant in today's NHL.

A lot of the attributes that come from intensive steroid use are not fully applicable in the NHL
1) Speed - known users such as Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis (failed test at 88 US Trials - overturned because the use was 'inadvertant' - only in America) benefitted from their steroid use in the last 40 metres of a race - a race in which they were unimpeded.
- Any race for the puck, breakaway in the NHL requires a combination of speed AND agility. Steroids don't improve agility

2) Strength
- the strength attributed to weightlifters, shot-putters, etc is not the same as the strength required in hockey. In hockey, it's all about how to leverage your body, while concentrating on the puck. While steroids may help, I'm not sure they would.

3) Enforcers
- We all know that John Kordic and Link Gaetz used steroids (admitted use) so I am sure that there are others that do as well, at least at the minor league level. The enhanced testing at the NHL level makes it difficult to time.

Having said all that, one has to wonder what Bryan Berard and Jose Theodore were thinking?
- Jose has a full head of hair by anybody's admission so what was he thinking using propecia?

So, while I admit, I tune out Dick Pound when he says that most NHL players are on steroids (make prostitution an Olympic sport and I guarantee you he'll have a statement stating that most prostitutes are using performance enhancing drugs too) as well as people like Dave Morrisette.

Answer 4

I think for hockey being too bulky is a hinderance so steroid use would be less of an issue. For them stamina is a huge need and there must be some way they can enhance that chemically. I don't know if baseball will suffer long term for this but it just might. Hell, I haven't been to a game since the strike of 1994 and I used to go to 15 to 20 a year before then. With the kind of money these guys can potentially earn though do you blame them?

Answer 5

less than the media would have you think however they have a valid use for injuries have you ever heard of a high calibre player being banned from the Olympics for steroid use i just don't think it's worth it for hockey players as far as a percentage I'd say every player has used them at the very least by prescription for a valid medical reason however I'm not so naive as to think there is no illegal use but it's hard to come up with a number some kind of methamphetamine would be more useful

Answer 6

Looks like the general concenus her is 3 -5 %. I would think it might be higher, maybe 10 - 20 %. Guys on the bubble looking for better paydays and seeing what it does for atheletes in other sports might think, "if I bulk up a bit more, I might stick with the big club this time". Helps you heal faster from nagging injuries in a tough sport. Probably goes on more than most people think.
Why? Whatcha need Bob, Dr. cme gonna fix ya right up.

Answer 7

3%, very little take steroids in hockey. Steroids won't help you as much in hockey as it would in baseball. Maybe a harder slapshot, but not much more. I'm just glad the report said that Glaus wasn't taking it with the Jays.

Answer 8

Just a guess, but I estimate 15% of NHL players are juiced.

Answer 9

i think about 5%. Hey Rich Ankiel has not admitted to this. He has said he's taken prescriptions from his doctor. The media has blown this way out of porportion. Even if he did take it, it was legal in 04.

Answer 10

i dont think as many as people think i would say less than 5% because i think that the players do get drug tested on a regular basis or at least a couple times duing the season and i think we would hear about it if someone was tested positive