Former Top Red Wings Prospect Issued Doping Suspension

There was a time when the Detroit Red Wings viewed Russian forward Igor Grigorenko as the top prospect in the organization’s pipeline. Ultimately, though, when the time to deliver the goods arrived, Grigorenko couldn’t pass the test.

That cost him his shot at an NHL career.

Nearly 20 years later, Grigorenko has failed another huge test. And this one could cost him his hockey career.

The International Ice Hockey Federation announced that the player Detroit chose 62nd overall in the 2001 NHL entry draft has been issued a four-year suspension for a positive doping test.

Grigorenko tested positive for no less than six banned substances. They included the steroids methenolone, oxandrolone, and trenbolone. Also found in Grigorenko’s test sample were the stimulants catin and Pseudoephedrine and the metabolic agent meldonium.

igor grigorenko https://t.co/22oqXViYCv pic.twitter.com/DG3mrD2Fh3

— chris (@Fopakjak) July 23, 2024

According to a report from the Russian news agency Sovietsky Sport, the sample was taken from Grigorenko on March 12, 2015, while he was playing for CSKA Moscow of the KHL. The doping information was obtained from the now infamous Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory (LIMS) database. Positive tests from that site have led to the suspension for doping violations of more than 200 Russian athletes.

The KHL acknowledges the information of Grigorenko’s positive test and suspension. “The KHL will give a legal assessment of the situation in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The league will issue an official statement later,” the league said in a statement released by the KHL press agency.

Former Red Wings Draftee Now KHL GM

Though he’s no longer an active player, Grigorenko remains involved in the game as GM of the Sochi club in the KHL. It was Grigorenko who earlier this summer fired former Russian Five member Slava Kozlov as coach of Sochi before he’d ever coached a game.

Less after a month since the appointment, @HCSOCHI fired coach Vyacheslav Kozlov and assistant Alexander Savchenkov
"We have made a balanced decision and are heading into the new season with new tasks and ambitious goals" said GM Igor Grigorenko@hcsochiru #ХКСочи #HCSochi #KHL pic.twitter.com/E0aqoSyc4d

— Eurohockey com (@eurohockey) July 19, 2025

Grigorenko suffered life-threatening injuries in a 2003 car crash while still in Russia. He attended his first Red Wings training camp in the fall of 2007. He wound up playing five AHL games for the Grand Rapids Griffins before the Wings cut ties with Grigorenko, and he returned to Russia.

“I don’t think there’s been that commitment to conditioning that we needed to see to give me hope to think that he could be an NHL player,” then Red Wings GM Ken Holland said at the time. “My take is that it’s time to move on.”