Carter Hart’s acquittal doesn’t mean he’s innocent. But he could soon be employable. Should the Flyers consider it?
Not guilty of sexual assault doesn't mean he's innocent. But he's going to be in the NHL again, and the Flyers still need a viable No. 1 goalie.
After a tortuous and sensational trial, Carter Hart and the four other members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room after a Hockey Canada celebration in London, Ontario, were found not guilty Thursday.
Not innocent. Just not guilty. And resoundingly so.
Justice Maria Carroccia, who took over sole responsibility for the verdicts in the case after she dismissed two juries, determined that the accuser’s evidence was neither “credible nor reliable” in her claim the players coerced her, in an intoxicated state, to commit the sex acts. Carroccia said, “I have found actual consent not vitiated by fear.”
» READ MORE: Former Flyers goalie Carter Hart found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault case
And so, not guilty. But not innocent.
No sane person would regard the young men as innocent. Not after Hart’s testimony confirmed the lewd and outrageous group sex acts performed with a single young woman on a night that included at least some degree of alcohol consumption by both the accuser and the accused. Not after they conspicuously twice recorded the woman confirming consent in the moment. Not after they were the subjects of a settlement in a $3.55 million civil case brought by the accuser in 2022 against Hockey Canada, which turned out to be a rather rotten organization.
The most disappointing and horrifying aspect of the case is that each of these young men felt that, both then and now, seven years removed, that they had the right to do this. This indicates not only a deficit in morality and decency, but an indication that, if they’re ever in the same situation, they might feel entitled to do the same again.
The question now becomes: Should the case end their careers? No.
Will it? Maybe.
It shouldn’t.
I get it: There’s a difference between being not guilty of charges and being innocent of wrongdoing. In my mind, Hart did wrong. But also, in my mind, he did not commit a crime.
In my mind, he should be allowed to be employed at the craft for which he spent his life preparing, and which lately has been denied him, perhaps justifiably so.
And it sounds like in Hart’s case, he might. The NHL doesn’t need Cal Foote or Michael McLeod, and Alex Formenton already was on the outs. Depth forward Dillon Dubé might be back one day.
But Hart, who will be just 27 next month, is too good to cancel — plus, he plays goalie.
“Carter Hart, if he’s acquitted, he will play in the NHL,” TSN legal analyst Eric Macramalla said Wednesday, a day before the judgment.
The NHL released a statement on Friday that said the league will work on next steps, and that “the players charged in this case are ineligible to play in the league” in the meantime. The NHL players’ association said the NHL’s statement conflicts with the collective bargaining agreement.
None of the five have played in the NHL since January 2024, when Hart and the rest took leaves of absence, a few weeks before the group was formally arrested and charged. They have missed the last season and a half. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, with no clause in the CBA covering this issue, has the power to suspend them further. If he does, fine. But even that should not end their careers.
When he left, Hart was the Flyers’ franchise goalie. After his arrest, the team didn’t extend him a qualifying offer, and he became a free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season. He reportedly has continued to train so he could remain ready to return to the NHL if and when he was allowed.
Notably, in January, the Flyers told the Inquirer that they had an appetite to re-sign Hart if he was one day allowed to return to the NHL. They admitted that they were keeping in contact with him. Hart, in September, tried to enter the United States to work out in Tennessee but was denied entry.
The Flyers’ goaltending last season was the worst in the NHL with a .879 save percentage. A few weeks ago, they signed unremarkable free agent Dan Vladař to upgrade their stable, which, considering the way the case had progressed, seemed to spell the end of Hart’s time as a Flyer. Then, this stunning verdict.
So: If the NHL lets Hart return, would the Flyers sign him?
Contacted yesterday, Flyers general manager Danny Brière told The Inquirer that all such questions should be directed to the NHL.
But Briere didn’t say “No.”
Nor should he.
The departure of Hart set the franchise back two years. His absence cost them a playoff berth two seasons ago and potentially another one last season. He’s better than Vladař, he’s better than backup Sam Ersson, and he’s better than every other goalie in the system. Brière’s duty as a GM is to procure the best players to win hockey games.
Hart’s legal process has ended, for now. Prosecutors have 30 days to pursue an appeal. It seems unlikely.
What Hart and the other players did turns my stomach. Maybe it makes you sick, too. But the more I see of the world, and the more I experience life, the more I have come to believe in redemption and forgiveness, especially if the redeemed and the forgiven have paid some sort of price that at least mimics a degree of justice.
For me, I believe that, especially for Hart, a degree of justice has been dispensed. He is the only player who took the stand. He detailed what was done and what he did. He will never live that down.
His testimony, his exile, and the fact that he cost himself tens of millions of dollars in the short and long run is, undeniably, a measure of punishment.
It may not be enough justice for you. It might not be enough punishment. I can understand that perspective. But I would ask you to understand the perspective of those who think it is.
I can understand your anger. It’s not as if you have no recourse for your fury. You can boycott whatever team signs Hart. You can boycott the entire NHL. You can consider him a monster. You can protest the games he plays in and display signs in the stands that express your outrage.
But I do not find it justifiable to continue that denial, whether it’s in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, where they need a goalie to try and get over the Stanley Cup hump, or Columbus, Ohio, where a goalie could make them relevant, or right back here in Philly, where, as ever, goaltender is a position of need.