Four of Canada’s five world junior players accused of sexual assault stemming from a June 2018 incident in London, Ont., have been released by their NHL teams after not receiving qualifying offers by Sunday’s deadline.
Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames and Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils are all currently unrestricted free agents. They have been on paid leave from their teams since late January when they were ordered to turn themselves in to the Metropolitan Police Department on sexual assault charges.
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One Night in London: Sexual Assault Allegations and Hockey Canada’s Hold Count
No dates have been set for the tryouts. It was up to the teams to make qualifying offers to retain those players’ NHL rights by Sunday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline, but the Flyers, Flames and Devils all declined.
If they had done so and the offer had been accepted (and it almost certainly would have been), the players would have continued to receive their pay over the furlough while the legal process could drag on through all of next season.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that there are currently no restrictions on players’ ability to immediately sign with other teams. Athletic It’s scheduled for Sunday night, but it will be difficult for anyone to do so given the uncertainty surrounding their situation.
The NHL and NHL Players Association have discussed in recent weeks the possibility of freezing players’ status pending a court case, but have been unable to reach an agreement on how to make that happen, according to a league source familiar with the discussions.
It is possible that Hart, Dube, McLeod and Foote could explore opportunities to continue their careers in Europe, as a fifth player who played alongside them, Alex Formenton, did over the past two seasons with Swiss coach Ambri Piotta.
Formenton’s NHL rights remain with the Ottawa Senators until July 1, 2027, as he was given a qualifying offer following the conclusion of the 2021-22 NHL season but did not accept it and was subsequently moved to the reserve list.
The five players are charged over an incident that occurred in a Delta London Armouries hotel room in June 2018 following the Hockey Canada Gala, which celebrated the world junior team’s gold medal win.
Two charges of sexual assault were filed against McLeod and one each against Dube, Foote, Formenton and Hart.
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(Photo by Andy Devlin/Getty Images)
