Former Washington Capital Nate Schmidt Suspended 20 Games for PED’s
Former Washington Capital and current Los Vegas Golden Knight Nate Schmidt is suspended for the first 20 games of the 2018-2019 season for testing positive for PED’s. The Golden Knights issued a statement regarding the situation.
“We were notified that the NHL has suspended Nate Schmidt for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. While we respect the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program and are committed to its success, we strongly disagree with the suspension. We firmly believe that the presence of a trace of the banned substance was accidental and unintentional. Based on our conversations with Nate, analysis from independent medical experts and sworn testimony from the parties involved, we believe it is clear Nate was not able to reasonably ascertain how the substance entered his body.
Now was Schmidt taking steroids? Who knows; steroids are not known to be seen in the NHL. One possible cause of this situation could’ve been caused by a pre-workout Nate was taking because some pre-workouts contain amphetamines that will show up in a drug test because most supplements that athletes like to take are not USDA approved.
To me a pre-workout he was taking that would show up in a drug test is logical since Schmidt doesn’t seem like a guy who would take steroids. Now if the headline was Ryan Reeves test positive for PED’s I would say makes sense.
