Goaltender Carter Hart, one of five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team recently acquitted following a sexual assault trial, is joining the Vegas Golden Knights.
The NHL team announced the move in a statement on Thursday. Details of the arrangement were not disclosed, but multiple media reports said Carter signed a professional tryout agreement.
Hart remains suspended by the NHL until Dec. 1, but he was able to sign with a team starting on Wednesday while waiting for reinstatement.
Hart told reporters at the Golden Knights’ facility in Las Vegas he wanted “to show the community my true character and who I am and what I’m about.
“I’m beyond grateful, excited and honored to be part of the Golden Knights. Got a great skate today with [goalie coach Sean] Burke and a few guys.
“It’s been a long road to get back to this point, getting back to playing the game of hockey, the game that I love,” continued Hart. “I’ve been out of the game for a year and a half now. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve grown a lot. Just excited to move forward.”
Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were charged with one count of sexual assault stemming from an encounter with a woman after a 2018 gala celebrating the Canadian world junior team’s gold medal. McLeod was also charged with one count of being a party to the offence.
The five players were acquitted on July 24 after a trial in London, Ont.
Hart is the first of the five players to sign with an NHL team. McLeod has since signed with a team in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, while Formenton is continuing his professional hockey career in Switzerland.
Megan Savard said Thursday the decision in the Hockey Canada trial was vindication for her client, Carter Hart. She says her client would have been willing to engage in restorative justice process had it been offered, rather than go through what she called a distressing and unnecessary trial.
“Each team is going to have to make its own decision,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday after the NHL’s board of governors meeting in New York. “They know the rules. And it’s up to them to decide whether or not, subject to those rules, they want to move forward.”
Last month, the Ottawa Senators general manager said Formenton would not be welcomed back to the organization.
“[We] have engaged in discussions with the agent and I think both sides agree that it would be best for everybody for a fresh start for Alex,” general manager Steve Staios told reporters then.
In a statement last month, the NHL said the events that had transpired with the accused players were “deeply troubling and unacceptable.”
Although their conduct was found not to have been criminal, it had fallen “woefully short of the standards and values” of the league, the NHL said.
However, the league did determine that the players could re-sign contracts with the NHL, but no sooner than Oct. 15, and they would be eligible to play in NHL games no sooner than Dec. 1 — meaning their total time out of the NHL would be nearly two years.
Lone player to testify at trial
“The Golden Knights are aligned with the process and assessment the NHL and NHLPA made in their decision,” the team said in a statement. “We remain committed to the core values that have defined our organization from its inception and expect that our players will continue to meet these standards moving forward.”
Hart was the only one of the five players to testify at the trial. He told the court he had received oral sex from the complainant but that she had consented to the act.
The 27-year-old Hart, from Sherwood Park, Alta., played his first six NHL seasons in Philadelphia, where he had a 96-93-29 record with a 2.94 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and six shutouts in 227 games.
He took an indefinite leave from the club on Jan. 23, 2024, before surrendering to police in London. He became an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season, when the Flyers did not extend him a qualifying offer.
Not surprising Hart landed with U.S. team: professor
Dan Mason, a professor of sport management at the University of Alberta, said given Hart’s previous track record as an NHL player, it was inevitable for him to get picked up by an NHL franchise.
“Of all the players that were involved in the trial, I think that he’s the one that had the clearest path back to a career,” Mason told CBC News.
Mason said it’s not a coincidence that Hart landed in the U.S.-based market.
“I don’t think U.S. markets really are going to care either way, given that there wasn’t a lot of media coverage of the events and the kinds of scrutiny that you saw in the Canadian markets.”
Mason said that he believes the NHL has shielded the Golden Knights because the league itself said it went through their due diligence and decided that it was acceptable for all the acquitted players to play in the NHL.
“Vegas can always point to the NHL and say this is something that was agreed upon by the NHL and we’re just abiding by the rules set by the league itself,” Mason said. “So I think that kind of gives a little bit of protection to the team.”
The Golden Knights, among the favourites to win this season’s Stanley Cup, have split goaltending duties between Adin Hill and Akira Schmid this season.
Hill has struggled with two extra-time losses, a 3.60 GAA and an .845 save percentage in three appearances. But Schmid has posted two wins, a 1.80 GAA and a .929 save percentage over two appearances.
