Four of the five Canadian World Junior players accused of sexual assault in connection with an incident in London, Ont., in June 2018 have been dismissed by NHL teams after failing to receive offers before Sunday’s deadline.
The Philadelphia Flyers’ Carter Hart, the Calgary Flames’ Dylan Dube, and the New Jersey Devils’ Michael McLeod and Carl Foote are all currently unrestricted free agents. They have all been on paid leave from their teams since late January, when they were ordered to turn themselves in to London police to face sexual assault allegations.
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No date has been set for the exhibition games. Each team had until Sunday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline to decide whether to make a qualifying offer to retain the players’ NHL rights, and the Flyers, Flames and Devils all declined.
If they had done so and the offer had been accepted (which it almost certainly was), the players would have continued to be paid while they were on furlough throughout the next season while the legal proceedings played out.
There are currently no restrictions on the ability to immediately sign with another team, vice president Bill Daly confirmed. work out Sunday night. But given all the uncertainty surrounding their situation, it’s likely that neither of them will be able to do that.
The NHL and the NHL Players Association have discussed freezing players’ status until the trial is held in recent weeks, according to a league source with knowledge of the talks, but no agreement has been reached on how to make that happen.
Hart, Dube, McLeod and Foote are all likely to seek opportunities to continue their careers in Europe. Alex Formenton is the fifth player to have played with them, having played with them for Swiss side HC Ambri-Piota for the past two seasons.
Formenton’s NHL rights remain with the Ottawa Senators until July 1, 2027, as he was offered eligibility after the 2021-22 NHL season but did not accept it and was moved to the reserve list.
Five players have been charged in connection with the incident, which took place in a room at the Delta London Armouries hotel after celebrating the World Junior Team’s gold medal win at the Hockey Canada Gala in June 2018.
Two sexual assault charges were filed against McLeod, and one each against Dube, Foote, Formenton and Hart.
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(Photo: Andy Devlin/Getty Images)
