Columnist accuses Ovechkin of performance-enhancing drugs with stunningly little proof

From the “throw stuff at wall, hope it sticks” file: John Steigerwald — author of the infamous “That Giants fan had getting beaten into a coma coming to him” piece earlier this year — has suggested Alex Ovechkin‘s recent decline is because he’s not on performance-enhancing drugs anymore.

From the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter:

There are whispers and maybe even some out-loud conversations around the hockey world about Ovechkin’s problem being a lack of artificial help.

In other words, performance-enhancing drugs.

The guy was superhuman when he first came into the league. He had the hardest shot anybody had seen in years. Goalies around the league talked about how it was different from everybody else’s shot.

He’s taking about half as many shots as he used to.

Here are the main propositions that led to Steigerwald’s theory:

1) Ovechkin’s doctor was charged with bringing PEDs over the border from Canada.

2) A Washington D.C. chiropractor was investigated after he bragged about supplying steroids to members of the Capitals and Washington Nationals.

3) The same doctor who had Ovechkin as a patient also treated Tiger Woods.

4) In his autobiography, Georges Laraque said steroids were commonplace in the NHL and that many players quit doing them prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, because Olympic drug testing is much tougher than the NHL’s.

I haven’t seen such reliance on hearsay and conjecture since Lionel Hutz sued the creator of Itchy & Scratchy.

In the spirit of making (and debunking) conspiratorial accusations, PHT offers up the following:

1) John Steigerwald is the brother of Paul Steigerwald, play-by-play man for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

2) Ovechkin’s competed in four IIHF World Championships — which also have stringent drug testing — in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. (Puck Daddy’s Dmitry Chesnokov notes Ovechkin got tabbed for a random steroid test in 2010.)

3) The PED/Tiger Woods doctor reference is to Dr. Anthony Galea. Good luck trying to find anything beyond message board material linking Ovechkin to Galea.

4) John Steigerwald is a sports columnist for a community paper covering two counties in Pennsylvania. The paper website’s current front page story is four local high school students singing Christmas carols for a rotary club fundraiser.

Let me ask you: Does this publication sound like it’s privy to super-insider scoops about incredibly famous athletes?