Last July, in a courthouse in London, Ontario, five former members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team were cleared of sexual assault charges.
The judge in the case said the complainant’s allegations lacked the credibility and reliability needed to justify convictions. As a result, all five players were eventually allowed to resume their NHL careers.
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But Hockey Canada found them in breach of their code of conduct and announced on Wednesday that suspensions will remain in place in four of the five cases.
Steve Warne and Gregg Kennedy discuss Jake Sanderson‘s ranking among top NHL defensemen.
The one exception is former Senator Alex Formenton, who they’ve reinstated immediately.
Formenton, Carter Hart, Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé and Michael McLeod were all acquitted last July following an eight-week trial.
But the criminal proceedings were separate from Hockey Canada’s investigation. That investigation began in 2018 and eventually resulted in a November 2023 report from an independent panel. The five players were formally suspended from all Hockey Canada-sanctioned programs while an appeal of that decision was underway.
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That appeal process has now concluded, and the panel confirmed that all five players breached the organization’s code of conduct.
But the panel’s recommended suspensions vary dramatically.
While Formenton was reinstated, Foote remains suspended until November 2026, Hart until November 2027, Dubé until November 2028, and McLeod has over four years left before reinstatement in November 2030.
In a nutshell, the panel ruled that Formenton breached the Hockey Canada code of conduct, but apparently not to the extent the others did.
Formenton was selected by the Senators in the second round, 47th overall, in the 2017 NHL Draft and developed into one of the fastest players in the organization, if not the league.
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His best NHL season came in 2021-22, when he scored 18 goals and 32 points in 79 games at age 22.
But that turned out to be his final season in Ottawa.
Formenton became a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022 and went unsigned by the Senators. He eventually continued his career with HC Ambrì-Piotta in Switzerland before returning home to face charges.
Formenton spent this past season with his Swiss team again, putting up 23 points in 42 games. He’s officially an NHL UFA after the Senators officially cut ties with him two months ago.
Wednesday’s ruling doesn’t mean the NHL or Team Canada will ever come calling again, but the comparative lenience being shown to Formenton does send a message and may fuel some discussions.
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By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the Sens headlines below:
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