NHL Permits Banned Danis Zaripov To Pursue Potential Contract

Danis Zaripov is one of the most decorated players in Russia having represented his country in the 2010 Olympics. The 36 year old winger who hails from Chelyabinsk, Russia has won 3 world championships and 4 KHL Gagarin Cup championships in his career so far.

He was suspended by the International Ice Hockey Federation and the KHL for a period of 2 years after the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that he tested positive for category S5 diuretics and category S6.b stimulant which can be used as masking agents to hide other drugs. As a result, he could no longer proceed with a 2 year contract that he had with Ak Bars.

Zaripov has maintained his innocence and stated that he has never used drugs in his long and established career. He has looked at his available options and one of the top ones that emerged was the National Hockey League (NHL). The reason the NHL is willing to clear Zaripov is because the substance he is accused of using ‘pseudoephedrine’ is not on the NHL’s list of banned substances and also because Zaripov was not allowed to testify at his hearing.

KHL

In a statement, Zaripov said

I look forward to continuing my professional hockey playing career in North America, and today I am very grateful to the senior management of the NHL for its decision, which provides me the opportunity to do so. Even though I now have a chance to play in the best league in the world, I plan to continue my appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to prove my right case and clear my name

His agent Dan Milstein said that there are now open to discussions and expect to have contract discussions with a number of NHL teams in the coming weeks. Elliotte Friedman from Sportsnet says that the two teams that could be very interested in the Russian winger are the Vegas Golden Knights and the New York Rangers.

The New York Rangers do have a strong left side with players such as Rick Nash, Chris Kreider, Jimmy Vesey and J.T. Miller but adding Zaripov would bring a lot more balance. The Golden Knights already have a Russian player in Vadim Shipachyov and manager George McPhee has a fondness of putting together veterans with younger players. Zaripov brings with him a wealth of experience and will be a great mentor to the younger players at the Golden Knights.