THE NHL : League’s Uncaring Drug Policy Leaves Troubled Players on Ice

A year ago, Grant Fuhr, goaltending star for the Edmonton Oilers for nearly a decade, made his greatest save.

On himself.

Fuhr admitted to longtime drug abuse, but said he had kicked the habit.

The story surfaced last summer in the Edmonton Journal. Fuhr’s former wife, Corrine, talked on the record about Fuhr’s cocaine habit. The goalie eventually conceded that he had had drug problems.

Faced with public awareness of the situation, NHL President John Ziegler called Fuhr in for a hearing.

Although Fuhr claimed to have put drug use behind him, Ziegler suspended him for a year.

Sort of.

Fuhr was allowed, under league rules, to apply for reinstatement midway through this season.

The only requirements were that a written application be made and that, in Ziegler’s words: “It was demonstrated in the interim that Grant Fuhr did not conduct himself in a manner to have caused dishonor or prejudice to the league.”

Ziegler, satisfied with Fuhr’s behavior since the hearing, granted reinstatement last week. The goalie is working out with the minor league team and can return to the ice with the Oilers next Monday.

Fair verdict? Not really.

If Fuhr was telling the truth last summer and had already licked the drug habit, then he shouldn’t have been suspended in the first place.

It he wasn’t telling the truth and still is on drugs, then he shouldn’t have been reinstated. And if the whole thing boils down to punishment for past sins, then why not make him serve the year?

First of all, punishment shouldn’t even be an issue. Drug use is an addiction. Addictions require treatment. Banishing Fuhr doesn’t banish his habit.

Nor does banishing Fuhr banish the furor over NHL drug use from the public’s mind.

Which gets to the core of the problem. The league doesn’t have a treatment program. It has no mechanism for determing whether Fuhr ever had a drug problem, whether he solved it or whether he still has it.

“If a player uses drugs and gets caught, he will be suspended,” Ziegler said. “The players have known that for some time.

“Our policy is also explicit on the question of rehabilitation programs. We have none. That is a conscious policy.”

Such programs only offer an excuse, Ziegler said.

“We want our players to know from the start that if you want to play in the NHL, say no to drugs. The NHL has had few problems with illicit drugs because of joint support by players and owners of a policy that says we don’t want drug users in our business. This policy applies to stars or journeyman players alike.”

Hard and fast.

It’s a head-in-the-sand approach.

Haven’t these people heard about treatment? Don’t they care about helping their players?

What Ziegler is saying, in effect, is that the NHL is only interested in you if you are drug-free and can enhance the league’s image.

How can a league administer justice in drug cases when it doesn’t even have the mechanism for testing to determine who the users are and when and if they have been cured?

How can the head of a league be proud that his organization doesn’t have a drug-rehabilitation program? Ziegler insists there is no league drug problem.

And that’s the biggest problem.

Turning over the old Leafs: Defenseman Al Iafrate, traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs a few weeks ago to the Washington Capitals, has gone public with criticism of his old team. “It was a selfish atmosphere,” he said. “If you were an All-Star, then you were a jerk. If you spoke your mind, then you were an idiot. If the coach liked you, then you were a nice guy.”

The not-so-great comparison: Detroit Red Wing rookie center Sergei Fedorov has impressed a lot of people.

But teammate Bobby Dollas, talking about Fedorov to the Detroit News, offered the following contrast with Wayne Gretzky.

“Sergei likes to beat you one on one,” Dollas said. “Gretzky just likes to make you look stupid.”

Add Dollas: A couple of hours before the Detroit defenseman made his remark, Gretzky had made a behind-the-back pass to set up a goal by Brian Benning.

That left a defender named Dollas standing there, looking . . . well, stupid was his word.

Dialing for Dollas: You say you’re a hard-core fan of a team that plays in another city?

Well, that team is now only a phone call away.

A pretty expensive phone call.

With the beginning of the NHL 1-800 service, fans can now call to hear the play-of-play of any game. Plus pregame and postgame shows.

For example, the Boston Bruins can be heard at 1-800-225-5006, Edmonton at 225-5036 and so on. For King fans living outside Los Angeles, it’s 225-5037. It’s not cheap. There is a service charge of 50 cents and an additional cost of 20 to 50 cents a minute . For a three-hour game, that would be $90.