The Washington Capitals made a trade for TJ Oshie on July 2, 2015, a blockbuster move that saw Troy Brouwer and goalie prospect Pheonix Copley head the other way to the St. Louis Blues.

Both teams were looking to make a major move to boost their Stanley Cup chances after repeated disappointments in the playoffs. But if you ask Oshie, St. Louis may have had extra motivation to ship him out of town.

The 38-year-old speculated on a recent episode of the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast that unsanctioned muscle training using a non-team-approved machine could have played a role.

“I wanted to try it – maybe [it was] part of the reason I got traded from St. Louis, too, because I told them I wasn’t doing the team’s training anymore, I was doing the ARP,” he said. “I think it had something to do with it… I think there’s a chance.”

An ARP machine, or Accelerated Recovery Performance machine, uses an electric current to lengthen muscles and improve blood flow for recovery and treatment of chronic pain, according to ARPneuro – a company that boasts Oshie and dozens of other athletes on its list of satisfied clientele.

Oshie was one of 75 NHL players, including former Capitals Taylor Chorney and Karl Alzner, who freely admitted to using the treatment in a story written by the Washington Post in 2017. He described experimenting with the ARP machine to treat several injuries, including back pain, an ailment that followed him to DC and eventually forced him out of hockey for good.

“I actually got into it because I was so injured. In St. Louis, I was lifting like super, super heavy weight. I was really getting after it,” Oshie recounted on the podcast. “Maybe that was the start of my back [pain], but my back was just like terrible, and my hips, everything. I used it before one game – Chris Porter let me use it to warm up, and my back pain disappeared. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ So I got [a machine] – actually, a lot of the boys in St. Louis got on board with me and we would use it just to warm up, that was it.”

Oshie broke his ankle in 2010, his second year in the NHL, and used ARP to aid in his recovery. He returned to the ice a month ahead of schedule and credited the machine as being a major reason why.

“That kind of sold me there,” Oshie said in 2017.

While the device is FDA-approved, some teams do not endorse its usage by players. St. Louis was one of those teams, according to Oshie. He recalled the moment he got the call from Blues general manager Doug Armstrong that he was headed to DC.

“I was actually sitting down watching golf. I actually had the ARP on, I was doing like a recovery protocol,” he said. “I told him about the ARP. They didn’t want me to do it. I told them I wanted to do it anyway.

“And [Armstrong] got on the phone and he was like, ‘Hey, Osh, how’s it going?’ I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going great. I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m ready to rock. I’m so excited for the season. I’ve been skating, I’m healthy.’ And he is like, ‘Okay, well yeah, that’s great. You’ve been traded to the Washington Capitals. Brian MacLellan will be giving you a call here.’ And then that was it.”

Nobody from St. Louis’ front office has ever publicly stated ARP treatment contributed to the decision to trade Oshie in 2015. He went on to lift the Stanley Cup with the Caps three seasons later and scored the second-most goals for the club (192) since joining that summer, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (422).