MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has no authority to advise the US-based National Hockey League (NHL) to impose a suspension on Russian player Yevgeni Kuznetsov, WADA said in a statement addressed to TASS.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced earlier in the day that it suspended Russian player Kuznetsov, who is a forward of NHL’s Washington Capitals, for the term of four years, citing violations of anti-doping regulations.
According to the world’s governing ice hockey body, Kuznetsov’s doping sample, which tested positive for cocaine, was collected on May 26 during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia.
"The NHL is not a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code and therefore is not bound by its terms," the global anti-doping organization said in a statement for TASS.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly announced in a statement on Friday that the North American ice hockey league did not list cocaine as a performance enhancing drug.
"Unlike the IIHF, cocaine is not considered a performance enhancing drug and is therefore not a Prohibited Substance under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program," according to the statement.
The IIHF’s four-year suspension means that the 27-year-old Russian ice hockey player, who is the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup winner, will banned from taking part in all matches supervised by the IIHF and KHL (Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League) and is most likely to skip the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China’s Beijing.
Kuznetsov joined NHL’s Washington Capitals in 2013 and booked in the previous regular season 72 points (21 goals, 51 assists) in addition to six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in the playoffs. Playing for the Russian national team, Kuznetsov is the two-time gold medalist (2012 and 2014) and three-time bronze medalist (2016, 2017, 2019) of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships.
According to an official statement from the IIHF earlier in the day: "The prohibited substance was found in a doping control which occurred on 26 May 2019 at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. The player didn’t require the analysis of his B-sample and was provisionally suspended on 13th June 2019. The period of ineligibility to be imposed shall be four years, concluding on 12th June 2023.".