Mike McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were charged this past February with committing a sexual assault against a woman following a 2018 Hockey Canada function where they were celebrated as members of that year’s world junior squad.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Five former NHL players who stand criminally charged with an alleged 2018 group sexual assault provided statements to court about their fading hockey hopes as part of their successful applications to skip non-essential hearings so they can work or train elsewhere.
In August, when Justice Bruce Thomas granted permission for the five to not attend a number of pretrial hearings, he relied on attestations about the difficulties they would face given their commitments. These included submissions, obtained by The Globe and Mail, that two are playing for hockey teams abroad, two are training full time in hopes of landing paid hockey work, and a fifth player said he is now driving heavy equipment as he apprentices in the construction trade.
“There is only a small window of time in which players are at their peak of conditioning and performance, and able to compete at a high level,” former NHLer Mike McLeod said in a July affidavit. Mr. McLeod said he cannot appear in a Canadian court for pretrial hearings if he wants to keep his new job playing professionally in Kazakhstan.
Mr. McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were charged this past February with committing a sexual assault against a woman following a 2018 Hockey Canada function where they were celebrated as members of that year’s world junior squad. The five accused deny committing any crimes and have agreed to being present in court to plead not guilty when a jury is convened in 2025.
The criminal charges were laid after a long-running London Police Service probe. Now, nearly 30 court days have been scheduled for pretrial hearings that will last until January, none of which the players will be required to attend.
While the onus is on an accused in Canada to attend criminal court hearings, applications for absences are commonplace, but require permission from a judge. Each of the players swore an affidavit this summer.
“I have been learning to operate excavators, skid-steer loaders and rollers,” writes Mr. Formenton, formerly a member of the Ottawa Senators. His affidavit says he needs time to learn. “Having focused on hockey my entire life, it is challenging to transition to a new line of work.”
Teams who participate in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League have hired two other accused, who said their scheduled games abroad conflict with the pretrial hearings.
“Since I was charged, I have been unable to play in the National Hockey League,” writes Mr. McLeod, a former New Jersey Devil. He says he could not keep his KHL job in Kazakhstan if he had to attend pretrial proceedings in Canada. “When court day starts at 10:00 a.m. EST, it will be 7:00 p.m. in Astana, which is the time when some home games will start.”
Mr. Dubé, a former Calgary Flame, also plays professional hockey in the KHL, in his case in Belarus – a seven-hour time difference away. He says that he would be hard-pressed to attend court in Canada, especially during away games in eastern Asia. “When I travel to play in the KHL, I will often be in time zones with even a greater difference to that of my court proceedings.”
The two accused who are not playing hockey professionally say they still train full-time in hopes of catching on with another professional team some day.
“I am required to follow a daily and stringent training regimen,” says Mr. Foote, a former New Jersey Devil. “If I am unable to train at this level consistently, my ability to continue playing professional hockey will be jeopardized.”
Mr. Hart, a former Philadelphia Flyer, says he intends to move from his home province of Alberta to Tennessee to work out full-time with a fellow former professional hockey player.
“If I am required to attend the pretrial motions, whether in person or remotely, it would be impossible for me to maintain my daily training regimen,” he writes. His affidavit says he has hired an immigration lawyer. “I have been previously denied entry to the United States due to my criminal charge.”
The Crown did not oppose these applications. When Justice Thomas granted the players permission to not attend the hearings, he said they all had legitimate grounds.
“It is clear that each of the applicants has a need to work or find work not only to sustain themselves, but to pay their expenses, which at this point, includes legal fees,” he wrote. His ruling says this amounts to “compelling economic reasons for their proposed absence.”
Justice Thomas’s order from August says that lawyers will be representing each accused during the pretrial hearings and that when these phases are finished “each applicant has committed to personally attending each day of their trial.”