{"id":450819,"date":"2026-02-08T00:53:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/450819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T00:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:53:49","slug":"penguins-defenseman-suspended-20-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/450819\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins Defenseman Suspended 20 Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUFFALO \u2014 A nightmare season just got worse for Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Caleb Jones<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jones, 28, was injured in October during just his seventh game this season. The lower-body injury kept him out for months, but during his rehab assignment with the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins, he was injured in his first game on Jan. 14. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the NHL suspended Jones for 20 games for using a performance-enhancing substance. The league does not release further details in such cases, but both Jones and Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas<\/a> released a statement shortly after the suspension. <\/p>\n

Jones released his statement through the NHLPA:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been informed of my positive test result and suspension under the NHL\/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.<\/p>\n

At the time of the test, I was receiving an exosome therapy for a documented injury from an outside provider. I believe that my positive test was related to a contaminated substance associated with that treatment. While I did not use the prohibited substance intentionally or for performance enhancement, I\u00a0understand that players are responsible for everything that enters their body and accept the discipline imposed by the program. I\u2019m sorry to have let down my teammates, the Penguins organization, and our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exosome therapy uses exosomes, which are tiny vesicles secreted by cells, to promote tissue regeneration, reduce inflammation, and facilitate cell communication. <\/p>\n

Through the team\u2019s social media, Dubas also put out this statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cCaleb Jones informed us this week that he tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance under the NHL\/NHLPA performance-enhancing substance program.<\/p>\n

Throughout the process, Caleb has been forthcoming with the organization as to how he believes the positive test occurred. Caleb takes full responsibility for his actions, despite him being unaware that what he consumed was a prohibited substance at the time. <\/p>\n

The organization appreciates his transparency in this matter, and Caleb will follow all NHL and NHLPA protocols related to his suspension. Caleb has the full support of the Penguins organization, and we look forward to welcoming him back to the ice when he is cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 1, the Penguins signed Jones to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $900,000. Jones has played 255 career NHL games with the Penguins, LA Kings, Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Colorado Avalanche<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Penguins have already played 54 games this season, so Jones will not be eligible to return until the team has eight games remaining this season. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: caleb jones<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized:Penguins News<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO \u2014 A nightmare season just got worse for Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Caleb Jones. Jones, 28, was injured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[3282,5,4,118,1469,100,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-450819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-caleb-jones","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-penguins","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","14":"tag-pittsburghpenguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116032285138017171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}