The NHL has cleared Evgeny Kuznetsov of any wrongdoing after they closed their investigation after a video surfaced Monday of the Washington Capitals forward near a table with two lines of white powder substance.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly released a statement explaining the league’s decision:
Kuznetsov apologized for his bad judgement in a statement through the Capitals.
“While I have never taken illegal drugs in my life and career, I would like to publicly apologize to the Capitals, my teammates, our fans, and everyone else for putting myself in a bad situation,” he said in the statement. “This was a hard lesson for me to learn.”
The Capitals also released a statement saying they accepted Kuznetsov’s explanation and apology.
“In addition to doing our own due diligence, we met with Evgeny to discuss the video circulated on social media. While we are disappointed by his presence in the video, we accept his explanation and apology for putting himself in an unfortunate situation,” the team said. “Evgeny has been a terrific player and an active member of our community, and we expect him to learn from this experience and uphold both the standards the organization has for him as well as his own.”
