Arizona Coyotes terminate Adam Ruzicka contract after social media video surfaces

Arizona Coyotes waive Adam Ruzicka after video of him with white powder and a credit card surfaces. Second player terminated this season.

The Arizona Coyotes have made the decision to place Adam Ruzicka on unconditional waivers in order to terminate his contract. This decision comes after Ruzicka posted a video to social media that shows him with what appears to be cocaine and a credit card on a counter. The team has stated that they will not be making any further comments on the matter at this time.

Ruzicka is currently in the second season of a two-year contract worth $1.525 million. He has only been with the Coyotes for about a month after being claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames on January 25th.

The 24-year-old Slovakian has not yet scored any points in the three games he has played with Arizona, after scoring nine points in 39 games with Calgary. He has played in a total of 117 NHL games since making his debut in April 2021.

Ruzicka's contract termination makes him the second player in the league this season to have his contract terminated, following Corey Perry with the Chicago Blackhawks after the veteran winger violated team workplace policy. However, the NHL Players' Association requested and was granted an extension of the window for Perry to file a grievance, and he has since returned to playing with the Edmonton Oilers.

The NHL has a history of punishing players for off-ice conduct, such as Ruzicka's. In 2019, Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov was suspended for three games for "inappropriate conduct" after he was banned from playing for Russia for four years due to a positive test for cocaine.

Kuznetsov had faced allegations of drug use at the world championships that year after a video posted on social media showed him near a table with lines of white powder and American dollar bills.

Share With Others