In the previous CBA (2005), the topic of re-testing samples from players was addressed.

47.5 Prohibited Substances. The NHL and the NHLPA shall be responsible for maintaining the list of Prohibited Substances (the "Prohibited Substances List"). Upon receiving the Committee’s recommendations made pursuant to Section 47.2(d) above, the parties shall confer and agree upon the Prohibited Substances to be included on the List.

Changes to substances on the List may only be as negotiated by the NHL and the NHLPA. There shall be no retesting of samples based on newly discovered substances not included on the Prohibited Substances List at the time of the original testing.

Pretty straightforward, right?

But there was no language in the 2005 CBA about what becomes of the samples.

Enter Donald Fehr for the 2012-13 CBA negotiations, and enter this new language in the just-released CBA (s/t Cap Geek):

The responsibilities of the Program Committee shall also include, among other things, to … establish a policy for the prompt and mandatory destruction of test samples and other related documents and records

(The Program Committee, incidentally, is “comprised of an equal number of League and NHLPA representatives, and one consulting expert doctor nominated by each party” and meets annually to review and implement drug testing policies.)

If samples had been previously destroyed, it wasn’t something that was explicitly written into the CBA.

So if the samples can’t be re-tested, why destroy the samples? Because Fehr has seen what can become of them.

Consider back in 2004, when Major League Baseball and the Union didn’t destroy testing samples from Alex Rodriguez and other players before they were seized by the federal government. That’s because the 2003 samples had been subpoenaed by a grand jury, and Fehr said the Union decided “that it would be improper to proceed with the destruction of the materials.”

It’s hard to imagine the government taking the intense interest in NHL players that it did Major League Baseball, but clearly Fehr felt that "cover our behinds" language belonged in the new CBA. Today’s undetected performance enhancing drug is tomorrow’s banned substance, and it's not like hockey players haven't been caught up in high-profile arrests of steroid pushers before.

You can read the rest of Wyshynski's article, but I guess it depends on your point of view...

Does destroying a drug sample prevent players from being subject to latter-day witch-hunts, especially if they didn't know that a substance they were taking at time X was in fact performance-enhancing, or does this instead aid and abet "cheaters" who know that they're ahead of the banned-substance curve?

There is no doubt that some NHL players are taking illegal performance-enhancing substances. Somewhere around 730-800 players dress for NHL teams every year, and it's just so statistically improbable that all of them are "clean" that it's silly...

But I suppose this is where the line between skepticism, cynicism and out-and-out paranoia comes in, because as far as we know, none of the players who played in the NHL this past season tested positive for any illegal performance-enhancing substances.

Does that mean that they've out-foxed the system? Does that mean that they're "juicing" during the off-season? Does that mean that players are taking stuff that isn't banned yet but gives them an advantage? Or does it mean that even the players don't know that something they're taking is in fact giving them an unfair advantage over their competitors?

It comes down to a question of trust, I suppose, and a question of integrity.

I do know this: teams like the Red Wings demand that their players bring in EVERYthing that they're taking so that everything from vitamins to protein shakes can be tested for even traces of illegal substances, and the rule former trainer John Wharton established in the mid-90's was, "If you want to try something, bring it in and ask and/or let us test it first."

One of the main reasons the Wings signed that sponsorship deal with the devil in Amway's Nutrilite brand of supplements wasn't for money's sake--it was to help ensure that their players were taking a standardized and testable family of nutritional and training aids. Ditto for teams' embracing of "the pink" that is the familiy of Biosteel substances.

The more the training staffs can monitor what their players are taking, the more they can prevent "cheating," and there is at least a significant amount of peer pressure among the NHL's strength and conditioning staffs to keep "cheaters" out of the game.

In my opinion?

I'm sure people cheat and that some don't get caught. But i don't know if retroactive testing is a cure-all. And I'm honestly much more worried about the issues that the NHL and NHLPA talked about regarding the abuse of prescription and non-prescription painkillers, sleep aids and other over-the-counter drugs, because statistics show that both athletes and the rest of us are much more prone to abusing Vicodin, Ambien and Suphedrine than we are to inject the next super-steriod, and regardless of what a person is dealing with in terms of substance abuse...

The most important thing to me is to ensure that players (and coaches and trainers and anyone else in an organization) knows that they can come forward and deal with their issues in an environment that will encourage them to "get it fixed" instead of shaming them for shame's sake.