Breaking: Player who tested positive for performance enhancers will be allowed to play in the NHL next season.

The National Hockey League has made a highly controversial announcement regarding the fate of Danis Zaripov, a former Kontinental Hockey League player looking to make his way to the NHL next season.

Over the week-end rumors began to surface that Zaripov was speaking to a number of NHL teams regarding a potential future in North America, and those rumors came as a major surprise due to the fact that Zaripov was recently banned from play by the World Anti Doping Agency.

The ban was a two-year ban due to the fact that Zaripov tested both for a stimulant, presumably some form of performance enhancing drug, as well as a masking agent, the kind of substance often ingested when trying to hid the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Despite all that, Sportsnet insider John Shannon is reporting that the NHL has made the decision to allow Zaripov to play next season. This has already led to a ton of question and criticism directed at the NHL, and it will be very interesting to see how public perception of this decision could impact these types of decision from the league in the future.

[pub]