Is there a road back to the NHL for 5 ex-Hockey Canada players not guilty of sexual assault?

CBC

28-07-2025

WARNING: This article references alleged sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
When Carter Hart testified in his own defence in the London, Ont., sexual assault trial for the 26-year-old and four other players on the 2018 world junior hockey team, it appeared to be the first step in the rehabilitation of his career.
The second step came immediately after the five were found not guilty last week — when Hart's lawyer said he had been willing to participate in a restorative justice process instead of a criminal trial.
"He was willing to be publicly named and prepared to use his public platform to teach other athletes about how to ensure that their sexual encounters are responsible and thoughtful," Megan Savard said to media outside the courthouse after Justice Maria Carroccia handed down her decisions.
"Mr. Hart regrets that it took a criminal trial for the truth to come out, but he has learned from the experience and he is committing to sharing what he has learnt with others in his personal circle and in his professional life," Savard said.
What that professional life looks like depends on whether hockey's governing bodies, his peers and the public give him a second chance.
Hart, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod were all playing in the NHL before they were charged with one count each of sexual assault early in 2024: Hart was with the Philadelphia Flyers, McLeod and Foote were with the New Jersey Devils, and Dubé was with the Calgary Flames. Formenton, an Ottawa Senators draft pick, hadn't been in the NHL since 2022, after which he joined a Swiss team.
None of their contracts were renewed after charges were laid early in 2024. All are unrestricted free agents with no ties to any teams.
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All five former players with Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team have been found not guilty of sexual assault. The Crown will 'carefully review' Justice Maria Carroccia's decisions, but prosecutors say they won't have any further comments 'as this case is still within the appeal period.'
McLeod was the only one of the five players facing more than one charge. He had also pleaded not guilty to being a party to the offence and was found not guilty of that count as well. According to the agreed facts in the case, the complainant, known in court as E.M. due to a standard publication ban, and McLeod initially had consensual sex in a room at the Delta hotel after they'd left Jack's bar. However, she testified she didn't consent to the sexual activity that happened after that.
In his remarks to the media after court wrapped Thursday, McLeod's lawyer, David Humphrey, spoke of how the allegations impacted his client and the other accused.
"The damage to Mr. McLeod's reputation and his career has been significant, but today's decision begins to restore what was very unfairly taken away from him," Humphrey said.
Should they be allowed to play again?
In the days since Carroccia decided the five men's fates from a legal perspective, there's been heated debate — in sports circles, among victims' advocates and on social media — about whether any of them should be allowed to resume their careers at the highest level.
The players are all still not being allowed to participate in Hockey Canada-sanctioned events and programs.
Hockey Canada, the national government body for amateur sport in the country, issued a statement late Thursday saying there's still an ongoing appeal to a decision about whether the five violated the organization's code of conduct. Results of that decision have not been made public and the appeal process was put on hold until after the criminal trial.
Although the Hockey Canada ban doesn't impact their NHL status, it does mean they can't represent Canada at international tournaments like the Olympics or coach at lower levels.
For now, the five also remain "ineligible" to play in the NHL, the league said in a statement, which also called the allegations and behaviour in this case "disturbing" and "unacceptable," even if not criminal.
"We will be reviewing and considering the judge's findings. While we conduct that analysis and determine next steps, the players charged in this case are ineligible to play in the League," the statement said.
When reached by CBC News, an NHL official couldn't say how long that review will take, but some have suggested the league may wait until the Crown's deadline to appeal passes at the end of August.
NHLPA pushes for players to 'return to work'
The NHL's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) says very little explicitly about off-ice conduct, especially compared to other major sports leagues. It does give league commissioner Gary Bettman broad powers to punish players "for conduct that is detrimental to the welfare of the League or the game of hockey." Players can also appeal disciplinary decisions to a neutral arbitrator, but that rarely happens for off-ice issues.
The NHL Players' Association issued a statement late Thursday in reaction to the league's review of the case.
The association maintains that since the players have been found not guilty, after missing more than a full season of their careers, "they should now have the opportunity to return to work."
The NHLPA claims the NHL's declaration they are ineligible to play is inconsistent with the disciplinary procedures in the CBA, and says it will address this dispute with the league.
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Megan Savard said Thursday the decision in the Hockey Canada trial was vindication for her client, Carter Hart. She says her client would have been willing to engage in restorative justice process had it been offered, rather than go through what she called a distressing and unnecessary trial.
The NHL doesn't have a formal personal conduct policy — as the NFL, MLB and NBA do — which means the league and teams handle cases individually, and the response depends on the severity of the offence, public reaction and whether the player still holds on-ice value.
"Inevitably, we see teams make decisions based on skills and less on character and on personal attributes," said Ann Pegoraro, a professor of sports management at Guelph University in southern Ontario.
For example, former L.A. Kings defenceman Slava Voynov was suspended by the NHL in 2014 after he was arrested on domestic violence charges. He later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour charge, and was sentenced to jail time and probation. The Kings terminated his contract. The NHL lifted his suspension in 2019, but he has not returned to the league.
Former Vancouver Canucks winger Jake Virtanen also hasn't returned, even after a jury found him not guilty of sexual assault in 2022.
Mitchell Miller, a 2020 draft pick, was renounced by the Arizona Coyotes and released from the Boston Bruins after public outcry when it was revealed he bullied a Black classmate with developmental disabilities in middle school.
In 2021, the Montreal Canadians were condemned for drafting Logan Mailloux, an 18-year-old defenceman who was fined for sharing sexually explicit photos of a woman without her consent. He is still playing and was traded to the St. Louis Blues earlier this month.
What could come out of the reviews
For the five players in the London case, they must await the outcomes of reviews by the NHL and Hockey Canada to see if they contravened conduct and ethics codes, which were initiated but then suspended while the criminal case was ongoing.
"They can be disciplined because it brings the whole sport into potentially disrepute, and those codes cover that," said Richard McLaren, a professor at London's Western University who specializes in sports law.
"So the fact that there's a clearance through the criminal system doesn't mean that that's a free ticket through the non-application close of contact and ethical behaviour."
If hockey governing bodies conclude they violated such codes, the players could face lifetime suspensions, although any suspension "probably would be less than that," McLaren said.
They could also be fined or other face other requirements, such as having to complete education programs related to sexual abuse and harassment.
"So first they've got to clear those systems and see what the disciplinary bodies decide might be applied to them, and then they would be potentially available to play," McLaren said.
Hart, a goalie, seen as most likely to return
Of the five men who were on trial, Hart is being viewed as the player most likely to return to the NHL.
While Canada was historically a powerhouse for elite goaltenders, there has been a decline in the number of homegrown goalies reaching the sport's highest level.
According to a February 2025 article in the New York Times, the percentage of NHL games played by Canadian goalies has significantly decreased, from 73 per cent in 1995 to roughly 26 per cent in 2025.
This past winter, Hart's name surfaced repeatedly as a potential goaltender on Team Canada at the 4-Nations Face-off tournament, which Canada won over the U.S. in February.
With a shortage of goaltenders overall in the NHL, some sports analysts have suggested Hart could be on the ice within the next year, possibly with the Edmonton Oilers or the Senators, although neither team has acknowledged that possibility.
"Carter Hart will play in the NHL. I have no doubt at all," Eric Macramalla, a TSN/Forbes Sports legal analyst and host, said on X on Thursday. He added in later interviews that Hart's decision to testify at the London trial will go a long way in the court of public opinion.
Jake Tye, an NHL news reporter for the Hockey News and Yahoo Sports, agrees.
"Carter Hart has already garnered interest from several NHL teams with one likely being the Oilers as the 26-year-old goaltender is from Alberta. Hard to say if he deserves a second chance or not but safe to say it looks like Hart will get one," he said on X.
Sending the wrong message?
Some advocates, however, are urging caution.
Allison Forsyth is a former Canadian alpine skier who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics and a sexual abuse survivor in a case involving Alpine Canada coach Bertrand Charest.
Charest was found guilty of 37 sex-related charges, Forsyth became an advocate for safe sport, founding the group Generation Safe.
"Just because people are found not guilty doesn't mean that bad things have not happened," she said, adding she doesn't think the five men in the London trial should be allowed to return to the NHL.
"There is a sexual culture of hockey. I know it. I have had players disclose the past that they have had within hockey where very bad things have happened. And this [allowing them to be eligible for NHL play] will send a message that hockey condones this type of sexual culture."
McLaren believes the potential for the five former world junior teammates' NHL return is there, particularly in the U.S., where there has been less public scrutiny and interest in their trial. Some American teams may take the risk if a player's skill level justifies it, she said.
"There's been, I think, more tolerance towards people who have gone wrong being able to come back and play in sport than there perhaps was in the past, and that's probably partly because these disciplinary processes end up being made public and then a lot of people would say, 'Well, OK, they've paid whatever consequences there are,'" McLaren said.
"There seems to be a willingness in certain clubs to do it more than others in terms of taking on what we might call problem players, or potentially problem players."
Still, those clubs would have to weigh the impact on sponsors, the local community and the dynamic with other players in the dressing room, Pegoraro said.
"I think the thing to remember is that while you can be found not guilty of criminal behaviour in court, it doesn't mean that you haven't displayed lack of decision-making or other moral insufficiencies. I think that that's probably what teams are going to grapple with."