NHL players granted leave amid Hockey Canada sexual assault allegations

Five players who were part of Team Canada’s 2018 World Juniors team have requested, and been granted, an indefinite leave from their respective teams amid Hockey Canada’s sexual assault allegations. Four of the five players are in the NHL, while one currently plays overseas in Europe.

New Jersey Devils’ Cal Foote and Michael McLeod, Philadelphia Flyers’ Carter Hart, Calgary Flames’ Dillon Dube and Ambri-Piotta’s Alex Formenton have all requested and been granted an indefinite leave of absence, their teams announced. Ambri-Piotta, Formenton’s team in Switzerland, said in a statement the forward will return to Canada.

On Wednesday morning, The Globe and Mail reported that five players from the 2018 team were told to surrender to London, Ontario police in connection with the alleged 2018 assault of a woman after a gala event to celebrate the team’s gold medal win in the tournament.

The London police announced they plan to hold a press conference Feb. 5 regarding the investigation.

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The names of the players have not been released by police.

The Associated Press reached out to the agents representing each player, as well as Hart’s lawyer, for comment. But the request was not immediately returned.

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere told reporters Wednesday that the teams is “aware of this morning’s press reports on a very serious matter. We will respond appropriately when the outcomes of the investigations are made public. The NHL has been very clear that teams should refer all investigation-related questions to them. In the meantime, members of the organization, including Flyers players, will not be commenting any further.”

NHL’s deputy commissioner Bill Daly, reached out to by The AP, said there was nothing the league can say at this time, and that it would release a statement when it is appropriate to do so.

In May 2022, Hockey Canada reached a settlement with the woman. Shortly after the settlement was reached, Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith stepped down, as did interim CEO Andrea Skinner. Hockey Canada’s board of directors also followed suit. Since they stepped down, Hockey Canada hired Katherine Henderson as its new CEO, has a new board of directors and also developed an action plan to help “eliminate toxic behavior in and around Canada’s game.”

A new investigation showed that London police had reasonable grounds to believe five players from the 2018 World Juniors team sexually assaulted the woman. It went to court in December 2022, and London police service sergeant David Younan wrote, as reported by The Globe and Mail, “when taking a global view of the evidence, (the victim) subjectively believed that she had no alternative but to engage in the (specific sex act(s)). Further, I believe that each of the suspects knew or ought to have known that (the victim) had not consented.”

Younan’s report also claims that the woman “explicitly told the men she was not comfortable,” as reported by Yahoo! Sports.

The NHL opened its own and said they’d make its findings public. During the Stanley Cup Final in June 2023, Daly said an independent investigator had completed the work and expected the report by midsummer.

“We have been in contact with the London police, continue to want to be in contact with them, make sure that there’s visibility with respect to what our process is,” Daly said June 3, via the AP. “And to the extent we can understand what theirs is, that would be the goal. And then I can’t prejudge what happens from there.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article