Drugs and pills of many forms have long been a mainstay in the world of professional sports, including hockey. Athletes in the hockey world suffer from numerous injuries every year, and they deal with these injuries well after their careers have ended. So, how do they deal with these injuries? The answer is very simple, and it’s the use of painkillers. With the number of injuries on the rise, we see an increased use of painkillers in hockey, so much so that it reaches the point of an epidemic, in terms of widespread use.  

Athletes use painkillers to treat anything from concussions, to back injuries, to knee injuries, and beyond. The sad reality of painkillers for the hockey world is that they have major side effects, one being the potential for an overdose, due to how much they are relied on. For this, we can look at two cases of professional hockey players who have died of overdoses, Marek Svatos and Derek Boogaard. Both of these men were NHL stars who dealt with injuries during their playing days, and relied on painkillers for help. Svatos was past his playing days when he died of an overdose at age 34 in 2016, but Boogaard was in the prime of his career when he passed away in 2011, at age 28. These cases are not the only cases of overdoses in NHL players, as there are many other well-documented cases of players abusing painkillers. Sadly, the NHL does nothing for these players except sending them to rehab and having them enter a substance abuse program. Although, as we can tell by the numerous documented cases around the league, this program and a rehab stint is not enough. The NHL and teams as a whole needs to do more to help their athletes. 

Zachary Fraser

Derek Boogaard takes part in one of the numerous fights he had during his NHL career. Injuries from these fights would become one of the factors for his painkiller abuse (Source: Andre Ringuette – Getty Images)