“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\u00a0said to media outside the courthouse after Justice Maria Carroccia handed down her decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/carter-hart-testimony-hockey-canada-trial.jpeg\")
Hart, shown in the witness box in this court sketch, was the only one of the five accused former Hockey Canada players who testified at the trial, which lasted eight weeks. (Alexandra Newbould\/CBC)<\/p>\n
What that professional life looks like\u00a0depends on whether hockey’s\u00a0governing bodies, his peers\u00a0and the public give him a second chance.<\/p>\n
Hart, Dillon Dub\u00e9, Cal Foote\u00a0and Michael McLeod were all playing in the NHL before they were charged with one count each of sexual assault early in 2024:\u00a0Hart was with the Philadelphia Flyers, McLeod and Foote\u00a0were with\u00a0the New Jersey Devils, and Dub\u00e9\u00a0was with\u00a0the Calgary Flames. Formenton, an Ottawa Senators draft pick,\u00a0hadn’t been\u00a0in the NHL since 2022, after which he joined a Swiss team.<\/p>\n
None of their contracts were renewed after charges\u00a0were laid early in 2024. All are\u00a0unrestricted free agents with no ties to any teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH | E.M.’s lawyer says complainant in London hockey trial\u00a0devastated by\u00a0the rulings:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753741988_285_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
‘The justice system must do better’: E.M.’s lawyer after Hockey Canada trial<\/p>\n
All five former players with Canada\u2019s 2018 world junior hockey team have been found not guilty of sexual assault. The Crown will \u2018carefully review\u2019 Justice Maria Carroccia\u2019s decisions, but prosecutors say they won\u2019t have any further comments \u2018as this case is still within the appeal period.\u2019<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
Should they be allowed to play again?<\/p>\n
In the days since Carroccia decided the five men’s fates from a legal perspective, there’s been heated debate \u2014\u00a0in sports circles, among victims’\u00a0advocates and on social media \u2014\u00a0about whether any of them should be allowed to resume their careers at the highest level.<\/p>\n
The players are all still not being allowed to participate\u00a0in Hockey Canada-sanctioned events and programs.<\/p>\n
Hockey Canada, the national government body for amateur sport in the country, issued a statement late Thursday saying\u00a0there’s still an ongoing appeal to a decision about whether the five\u00a0violated 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.<\/p>\n
Although the Hockey Canada ban doesn’t\u00a0impact their NHL status, it does mean\u00a0they can’t represent Canada at international tournaments like the Olympics\u00a0or coach at lower levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For now, the five also remain “ineligible” to play in the NHL, the league said in a statement, which also called the\u00a0allegations and behaviour in this case “disturbing” and “unacceptable,” even if not criminal.<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
NHLPA pushes\u00a0for players to ‘return to work’<\/p>\n
The NHL’s\u00a0collective 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.<\/p>\n
The NHL Players’ Association issued a statement late Thursday in reaction to the league’s review of the case.<\/p>\n
The association maintains that since the players have been found not guilty,\u00a0after missing more than a full season of their careers, “they should now have the opportunity to return to work.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Carter Hart’s lawyer says the not guilty findings are ‘vindication’:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753480090_957_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Lawyer for Carter Hart says trial’s outcome was ‘not just predictable, but predicted’<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The NHL doesn’t have a formal personal conduct policy \u2014\u00a0as the NFL, MLB and\u00a0NBA do\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which means the league and teams handle cases individually, and the response depends on the severity of the offence, public reaction\u00a0and whether the player still holds on-ice value.<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, former L.A. Kings defenceman Slava Voynov was suspended by the NHL <\/a>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former Vancouver Canucks winger Jake Virtanen also hasn’t returned<\/a>, even after a jury found him not guilty of sexual assault in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mitchell Miller<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n In 2021, the Montreal Canadians were condemned for drafting Logan Mailloux<\/a>, an 18-year-old defenceman who was fined for sharing sexually explicit photos of a woman without her consent. He is still playing\u00a0and was traded to the St. Louis Blues earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n What could come out of the reviews<\/p>\n For the five players in the London case, they must await the\u00a0outcomes of reviews by the NHL and Hockey Canada to see if they contravened conduct and ethics codes, which were initiated\u00a0but then suspended while the criminal case was ongoing.<\/p>\n “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\u00a0who specializes in sports law.<\/p>\n “So the fact that there’s a clearance through the criminal system doesn’t mean that that’s a free ticket\u00a0through the non-application close of contact and ethical behaviour.”\u00a0<\/p>\n If hockey\u00a0governing bodies conclude\u00a0they violated such codes, the players could face lifetime suspensions, although any suspension “probably would be less than that,” McLaren said.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u00a0could also be fined\u00a0or other face other requirements, such as having to complete education programs related to sexual abuse and harassment.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Hart, a goalie, seen as most likely to return<\/p>\n Of the five men\u00a0who were on trial, Hart is being viewed as the player most likely to return to the NHL.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n According to a February 2025 article in the New York Times<\/a>, the percentage of NHL games played by Canadian goalies\u00a0 has significantly decreased, from 73\u00a0per cent in 1995 to roughly 26 per cent\u00a0in 2025.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a shortage of goaltenders overall in the NHL<\/a>, some sports analysts have suggested Hart\u00a0could be on the ice within the next year,\u00a0possibly\u00a0with the Edmonton Oilers or\u00a0the Senators, although neither team has acknowledged that possibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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\u00a0Thursday. He\u00a0added\u00a0in later interviews that Hart’s\u00a0decision to testify at the London trial will go a long way in the court of public opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carter Hart will play in the NHL. I have no doubt at all. He will be acquitted, which sets the stage for a return.<\/p>\n \u2014@EricMacramalla<\/a><\/p>\n Jake Tye, an NHL\u00a0news\u00a0reporter for the Hockey News and Yahoo Sports,\u00a0agrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n \u2014@JakeTye10<\/a>Sending the wrong message?<\/p>\n Some advocates, however, are urging caution.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Charest was found guilty of 37 sex-related charges, Forsyth\u00a0became an advocate for safe sport, founding the group Generation Safe.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n 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\u00a0trial. Some American teams may take the risk if a player’s\u00a0skill level\u00a0justifies it, she said.<\/p>\n “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,\u00a0they’ve paid whatever consequences there are,'” McLaren said.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Still, those clubs would have to weigh the impact on sponsors, the local community and\u00a0the dynamic with other players in the dressing room, Pegoraro said.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the\u00a0Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database<\/a>. \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n![\"guy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/richard-mclaren.jpg\")
Richard McLaren is seen in a file photo when he was part of a 2015 independent panel commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Now a law professor at London’s Western University, he spoke to CBC about what the five former world junior players could possibly face once the NHL and Hockey Canada complete their reviews. (Valentin Flauraud\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hart-carter-013124.jpg\")
Hart was a goalie with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers before he was charged in the sexual assault case. (Derik Hamilton\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753741990_515_hockey-canada-trial-decision.jpg\")
Hart arrives at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in London last Thursday for the judge’s rulings. He was the only one of the five accused men who testified. (Evan Mitsui\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/sports-abuse.jpg\")
Allison Forsyth, an advocate for safe sport and founder of Generation Safe, says, ‘Just because people are found not guilty doesn’t mean that bad things have not happened.’ (Chris Donovan\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n