Joffrey Lupul made headlines earlier this week after appearing to make accusations against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Instagram.
The comments -- which have since been deleted but caught on a screen grab -- came after the Maple Leafs announced Lupul failed his physical prior to training camp for the second year in a row.
“I’m ready … just awaiting the call,” Lupul wrote in the comments section of the Instagram post, per the screen grab. “haha failed physical? They cheat. Everyone lets them.”
On Wednesday, the 33-year-old forward, who hasn’t played since the 2015-16 season, posted a statement on his verified Twitter account, saying his Instagram comments were an “inappropriate response.”
Here is his entire statement:
— Joffrey Lupul (@JLupul) September 21, 2017
What’s also significant is that he stated he will not seek a second medical opinion regarding this failed physical. As previously noted, that option was available to him, although, per reports, the deadline for this was 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Lupul is in the final year of his five-year, $26.25 million contract.