Ottawa Senators' Alex Formenton during an NHL hockey game in Philadelphia, Friday, April 29, 2022; New Jersey Devils defenceman Cal Foote before an NHL hockey game in Newark, N.J., Friday, Oct. 27, 2023; New Jersey Devils' Michael McLeod during an NHL hockey game in Philadelphia, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023; Calgary Flames centre Dillon Dube during an NHL hockey game in Detroit, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023 and Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart during an NHL hockey game in Uniondale, N.Y., Saturday, April 3, 2021. The five players from Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team are facing sexual assault charges.Matt Slocum, Noah K. Murray, Paul Sancya, Corey Sipkin/The Canadian Press
Four former Canadian world junior hockey players who were charged this year in connection with a 2018 sexual assault case have been cut loose from their NHL teams.
Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames, and Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils are now unrestricted free agents after their teams chose not to tender qualifying offers before Sunday’s deadline.
The four, along with former Ottawa Senators player Alex Formenton, are accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a downtown London, Ont., hotel room after a June, 2018, Hockey Canada fundraiser at which the Canadian world junior hockey team was celebrated for winning gold earlier in the year.
They were each charged in January with one count of sexual assault. Mr. McLeod faces an additional charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offence,” which London Police Service said was related to aiding someone else in committing an offence.
Mr. Formenton played the past two seasons with HC Ambrì-Piotta, a team in Switzerland’s National League.
Lawyers for all five players, who were granted leaves of absence, said they are not guilty and plan to defend themselves vigorously in court. A trial date has not been set.
The allegations came to light in 2022, after TSN reported that Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit brought by the woman, identified in court documents only as E.M. She alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by several players in a hotel room after the 2018 fundraiser.
E.M. said she had agreed to leave a bar and go to the hotel room with one player, but that several of his teammates later entered the room and intimidated her into staying.
E.M. reported the alleged assault to police immediately, but an initial criminal investigation was closed in February, 2019, and no charges were laid. The investigation was reopened in 2022.
In the two years since the case became public knowledge, it has rocked Hockey Canada, prompting a complete overhaul of the organization’s leadership, as well as parliamentary hearings and investigations by both Hockey Canada and the National Hockey League.
In February, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman described the alleged behaviours as “abhorrent, reprehensible, horrific and unacceptable,” and said the responsible thing to do was await the conclusion of legal proceedings.
“I would be surprised if they’re playing while all of this is pending,” he told a news conference for the league’s All-Star Weekend in Toronto.