Should Berard fail an NHL test in the future he would be treated as a first-time offender.
Berard signed a two-year contract with Columbus in August after playing nine seasons for Toronto, the New York Rangers, Boston, Chicago and the New York Islanders. He was the 1997 NHL rookie of the year with the Islanders and won the Masterton Trophy in 2004 for best exemplifying the qualities of hockey. He was severely injured in 2000 when he was hit in the right eye with a stick. He missed the rest of that season and the following one and still has reduced vision in the eye.
In 2003-2004, Berard had 13 goals and 34 assists with Chicago, giving him more points than any other Western Conference defenseman.
Berard is third on the Blue Jackets with 27 points, scoring nine goals with 18 assists in 40 games.
Rick Nash's shootout goal gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over St. Louis on Friday and stretched the Blues' losing streak to nine. St. Louis lost for the second consecutive night in the NHL's new tiebreaker.
Nash scored on Curtis Sanford, who took over for the injured Jason Bacashihua late in regulation.
Wild 4, Blackhawks 1
At St. Paul, Minnesota, rookie defenseman Kurtis Foster had a goal and assist, and Manny Fernandez made 31 saves to lift Minnesota over Chicago.
Foster leads first-year defensemen with nine goals. Fernandez has an NHL-best 2.02 goals against average and is tied for first with a .929 save percentage.
Kyle Wanvig, Marian Gaborik and Randy Robitaille also scored for Minnesota.
The Phoenix Coyotes traded center Petr Nedved to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.
Friday's trade also gave the Flyers the option of swapping fourth-round draft choices with the Coyotes at this year's entry draft and third-round choices with the Coyotes in next year's entry draft.
"Nedved has always been a good scorer and a real good player and we think he'll solve some of our problems up front," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said.
Nedved, who was benched earlier in the season, had two goals and nine assists in 25 games in his first season with the Coyotes.
"Obviously, I am very pleased and happy to be coming to Philadelphia," Nedved said.
Seidenberg has been in the NHL three years, all with the Flyers. He has two goals and five assists this season.
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