After Banned Substance Suspension, Zenon Konopka Facing Catch-22

Konopka, a popular ex-captain of the Syracuse Crunch who will be a guest at Saturday’s Frozen Dome Classic, is collecting dust while making the wrong kind of history. He said he’s the first player to get popped for such a suspension right before entering free agency.

The NHL announced the suspension in May, after Konopka completed his season with the Wild. The 20-game penalty was cut and dry.

But the league’s stance is that the suspension won’t start until a team signs him. And on the other side of the dilemma, what team is now going to sign a role-player like Konopka when he can’t start filling that role for 20 games?

For four months Konopka and his agent have lobbied the NHL for some kind of sentence reduction to time already served, to no avail so far. Konopka tries to keep his opinion of the matter in check while his case is still pending.

Konopka can’t discuss the banned substance that triggered the positive test other than to say it’s available over the counter and he didn’t know it was illegal at the time. He said it’s so innocuous that his mom takes the same supplement, as did his aunt, and that he used it to combat stress.

Other reports have identified the substance as DHEA, a hormone naturally produced by adrenal glands.