Four out of five Canadian junior world ranking players accused of sexual harassment are banned from NHL teams

Four of the five Canadian world junior ranked players accused of sexual assault in connection with a June 2018 incident in London, Ontario, have been released by their NHL teams because they were not made a qualifying offer before Sunday’s deadline.

Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames and Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils are all now unrestricted free agents. They had all been on paid leave from their teams since late January, when they were ordered to turn themselves in to the London Police Service to answer to sexual harassment charges.

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A date for the negotiations has not yet been set. Each team had to decide whether to make a qualifying offer to retain the NHL rights to those players by 5 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Flyers, Flames and Devils all opted not to do so.

Had they done so and the offers been accepted (which they almost certainly would have been), the players would have continued to receive pay and would have remained on leave during the legal process, which could potentially last the entire next season.

There are currently no restrictions on their ability to immediately sign with another team, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to The athlete on Sunday evening. But given the uncertainty surrounding their situation, it will likely be difficult for any of them to do so.

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have been in talks in recent weeks about a possible freeze on players’ status pending litigation, according to league people familiar with the talks, but they have not been able to agree on how that could be implemented.

It is possible that Hart, Dubé, McLeod and Foote will explore opportunities to continue their careers in Europe – just as Alex Formenton, the fifth player alongside them, did the last two seasons in Switzerland with HC Ambrì-Piotta.

Formenton’s NHL rights remain with the Ottawa Senators until July 1, 2027, as he received a qualifying offer following the 2021–22 NHL season, which he did not accept and was subsequently placed on their reserve list.

The five players are accused of an incident in June 2018 that occurred in a room at the Delta London Armouries Hotel following a Hockey Canada gala celebrating the world junior team’s gold medal win.

Two charges of sexual assault were brought against McLeod, and one each against Dubé, Foote, Formenton and Hart.

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(Photo: Andy Devlin / Getty Images)