Oilers media argues NHL made huge mistake with Ekblad PED suspension

Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad was suspended on March 10th for violating the NHL's policy on performance enhancing drugs, and yet returned to play in the playoffs just over 6 weeks later.

Oilers insider Jason Gregor took to social media to raise this mistake by the NHL. Other sports leagues have much harsher punishments for PEDs, and exclude players caught from participating in the playoffs at all.

Not only that, but for some unthinkable reason, Ekblad's salary cap didn't count towards the Panthers during his suspension.

And what a shock: When the player busted for performance enhancing drugs returned, his performance was great. Ekblad averaged 23:59 of ice time through the playoffs, and was a key factor in their second cup win.

It's far from a good look for a player caught with a cheating offence plays such a key role in a championship win a few months later. This extremely lenient PED policy should've been addressed in the new CBA, especially after this incident, but was missed entirely.

Frankly, it's just hard to believe that Ekblad gained no advantages 6 weeks later from taking a banned substance. He may have explained he mistakenly took them while trying to recover from injury, but these substances are banned for a reason.

Hopefully another one of these incidents doesn't occur and the players play with integrity, but that's what it may take for the NHL to strengthen their policy.