This false narrative needs to die because every sport takes more than just brute strength to succeed. Do baseball players not still need the hand/eye coordination to hit a ball? Do they not still need to see the ball coming out of the pitchers hand and in a fraction of a second decide what kind of pitch it is, how fast its coming in, and whether it's a strike or not? Nobody is claiming you can take some average beer leaguer and turn them into a professional athlete using PEDs but to say that a little added strength, stamina, and quicker recovery isn't an advantage in hockey is just not understanding how steroids truly work.
Hmm, if only there were something for players to take that would help them bounce back from the brutal grind of a hockey game while also making them stronger.
It's not a false narrative, when being stronger in other sports (baseball hitters, football offensive linemen) is more fruitful for those people than the typical NHL player. The NHL continues to move in the direction of speed and skill over power and goons. It's not a false narrative; it's reality.
You do understand that steroids allow you to train harder right? That means players in the offseason can work on their speed and explosiveness for longer and without typical fatigue. It would make players faster, have a more powerful stride, harder shot, and stronger on the puck, in corners, and in front of the net. All while also having better stamina and quicker recovery from game to game and shift to shift. There's literally zero disadvantage in hockey. The idea that a guy like Gaudreau would somehow get too bulky and slow is literally the definition of misinformation about what steroids do. Sure if he decided he was just going to bench press and work his arms all day he might but that's not what he would be using them for. The same way Lance Armstrong wasn't doping to get jacked, he was doping so he could recover from the previous days races and maintain stamina for weeks.
I have to agree. For some reason people think steroids means you are going to be some sort of 300lb beast. Not like Lance Armstrong was in a sport where being bulky was going to help him
Based on the types of workouts that hockey players do, as opposed to the basic things that you think they do, steroids don't give them the edge in the same fashion that they do for most other sports. You think that most steroids are some magical drug? There are negative side effects. Hockey isn't completely void of PED abuse, but but there are more incentives to avoid them than most other sports.
I know what kind of workouts NHL players do and steroids would help. You're literally not understanding what steroids even do so this discussion probably won't go anywhere. Are steroids more advantageous in a sport like football where pure strength is the most important "skill" at certain positions? Of course. But to pretend that having a stronger core and legs in a sport driven by speed isn't going to give you an advantage is silly. To pretend like being fresh in the 3rd period when other players are dragging is naive. To pretend like being able to work out an extra 30 minutes each day in the offseason and wake up the next day fresh and ready to grind again isn't an advantage over the other guys in the gym or on the ice is inarguable.
When the hell did I say steroids help someone stop abusing pain killers? I said steroids aid in recovery after games so a player may not start abusing pain killers in the first place. A lot of players use painkillers to mask pain from the grind of a season while steroids would help avoid feeling that muscle and joint fatigue in the first place.
