Five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team — Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod — were acquitted in July 2025 on sexual assault charges stemming from an encounter at a 2018 Hockey Canada gala in London, Ont.
Since then, the NHL has reinstated all five, allowing them to play beginning Dec. 1, 2025. Hockey Canada’s appeal board later ruled all five breached the governing body’s code of conduct and extended its ban from national programs for three of the five.
With Formenton recently signing a contract with the Edmonton Oilers, here’s a look at where the five players have landed since the trial ended.
ALEX FORMENTON
The 26-year-old signed a one-year, US$850,000 contract with the Oilers on Sept. 9 after spending three of the previous four seasons in Switzerland with HC Ambri-Piotta and the other out of hockey.
Formenton was the only player of the five made immediately eligible for reinstatement in Hockey Canada-sanctioned programs after the appeal-board ruling.
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NHL regular season begins tonight -
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Protestors against Formenton signing gather ahead of Edmonton Oilers preseason game -
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Edmonton Oilers GM speaks about Alex Formenton signing -
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Remembering Cal Nichols and his role in keeping the Oilers in Edmonton -
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Edmonton Oilers sign 2018 world junior player Alex Formenton -
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Mike Babcock grateful to join Edmonton Oilers as head coach -
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Canadian teams continue battling through the playoffs
His signing triggered a backlash in Edmonton, including an online petition calling on the club to reverse the deal and a protest outside Rogers Arena on Saturday, when the Oilers opened their pre-season schedule against visiting Winnipeg.
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The Oilers have defended the move, citing Formenton’s acquittal, his reinstatements, and what the team called a “lengthy due diligence process.”
CARTER HART
The netminder was the first of the five to return to the NHL, signing a two-year, $4-million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in October 2025.
He returned to action Dec. 2 and helped Vegas reach the 2026 Stanley Cup final with a 12-4 playoff record, a 2.22 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage leading into the title series against Carolina.
He remains suspended by Hockey Canada until Nov. 10, 2027.
DILLON DUBÉ
The centre became the second of the five players to return to the NHL when he signed a one-year contract worth $850,000 with the St. Louis Blues on July 1.
Dubé signed the deal after agreeing to a professional tryout with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate, in December. He had 20 goals and 17 assists in 46 regular-season games with the Thunder, then added five goals and three assists in 12 playoff contests.
He joined the organization after playing for Minsk Dynamo of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League in 2024-25.
Dubé remains suspended by Hockey Canada until Nov. 10, 2028.
CAL FOOTE
Foote signed an AHL contract with the Chicago Wolves in December 2025, where the defenceman had four goals and 14 assists in 48 games.
He signed a one-year contract with Swedish club Farjestad BK in July, but the deal was rescinded two days later.
Foote is the next player eligible for reinstatement by Hockey Canada, with his suspension set to end on Nov. 10.
MICHAEL MCLEOD
The centre signed a three-year contract with Avangard Omsk of the KHL in October 2025.
McLeod previously split the 2024-25 KHL season between Omsk and Barys Astana.
He is the only one of the five not to play in North America since the trial ended.
Hockey Canada imposed the longest ban on McLeod, making him ineligible for reinstatement until Nov. 10, 2030.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2026.
Sex Ed; EM was proven to be lying about that.
Go read the court transcript. Read the verdict. If you still want to be ignorant and believe lies, that’s on you. Stop thinking EM was some poor innocent soul and realize she was a puck bunny who cheated and didn’t want her boyfriend to dump her.
She lied and falsely accused five boys of rape. She should be in prison.
Someone being made to feel intimidated, fearful, outnumbered and ending up dissociating, is not right! These “men” should have known better and they obviously knew it was all wrong because they made her do two consent videos.
From a CBC news article:
“She told the court she was “numb” and “on autopilot, feeling “outnumbered” and “intimidated” by multiple men she did not know towering over her while she was naked on the bed sheet. E.M. described her mind separating from her body, and said she felt herself watching what was going on in the room as if it was happening to someone else. She said the men should have known she was too drunk to consent, even if she did not say as much out loud.”
Ben, I wouldn’t let you near any type of woman, and definitely not children. You pretend to be a white knight, but we all know that you’re a predator.
And whoever “society is sick” is, you’re foolish. It wasn’t rape. She consented. The boys were drunk too, why is the responsibility on just the boys? Also, how many boys in that room were minors? She should be charged for statutory rape then.
Also, go read the judges verdict. She wasn’t innocent at all. But keep up this “OMG GIRLS CAN DO NO WRONG ITS ALWAYS THE BOYS FAULT” b.s. and see how well that works for you in the real world. You can be as dumb and idiotic as you want as an anonymous online poster, but I would have zero issue saying any of this to your face. I highly doubt you would do the same.
Of course the only one above the law here is hockey Canada…they couldn’t except the courts decision…but no surprise considering who’s running it…phoney!
Go to sleep @6:16. People under 50 need to learn to spell. 🙂 Some posters really put themselves out there and look ridiculous.
So, I cannot stand up for a woman on Global forum hey. Every comment I put out there protecting the woman and admonishing those who are saying the boys had every right to take advantage cause she asked for it, being drunk has been deleted.
‘Common sense’ seems to think its ok to rape women when they are drunk. They are just sl*ts anyway and deserve it according to him and others here. That seems to be Global’s slant as well. The same slant as the judge.
So, go ahead all you big tough playboys, go after the drunk ones. They all deserve it hey!? Thats probably the only way you get it anyway, by force. Should ask your wives and daughters.
Ben. They were acquitted. End of story.
You are 23 years old. You are a child. God help us if you are raising kids.
@Common sense. The way you speak about this particular woman is disrespectful. You completely ignore the men’s responsibility and the civil court case (settled out of court). When my children grow up, they will know not to talk about a woman like you do.
You’re not too bright, Ben.
It’s called accountability. If you’re in a relationship, don’t go out looking to get gang banged by hockey players.
You’re not excusing EM for being a trash bag puck bunny. The judge goes by facts of the case, and she got it right. Oh, the judge was a woman by the way.
Shows how little you researched this whole thing, and how ignorant you are.
Stay away from schools, please.
If white trash inbred couldnt rape, they wouldnt stop being born!
@Common sense. Hypothetically, let’s believe the judge even though his ruling was somewhat questionable. Their behaviour wasn’t acceptable. Men have an obligation to protect women from other men and vice-versa.
People over 50 shouldn’t be aloud on the internet
Anyone arguing on the side on EM didn’t read the verdict.
The judge ruled that she lied, that any sex was consensual, and she wasn’t forced into anything.
Puck bunny went home with a hockey player and accosted several others. How many of those boys were minors at the time it happened? Where’s your admonishment for her?
She lied about rape to hide it from her boyfriend. She’s the worst of the worst.
Raise your daughters better, because if you’re raising them to be like EM, you’re a terrible parent.
Anonymous the village idiot….your on a roll…keep educationing us with your logic. (sarcasm)
Cancel culture is real… that’s why…they are…. Still in the…
Liberals are canceling people!
You can rape as long as you’re white and play hockey! Yay Canada!
Wait I thought we didn’t trust the liberal courts? Oh unless it saves our sons… not our daughters… got it.
We here on the global news comments support abusers and only trust the court when it comes to white men getting away with harming people. We hate the court when it goes against our white brothers but when it works for us, gosh darn its great.
It seems toxic feminists only respect the rule of law when it suits them. The men in question are not guilty of anything. Their harassment must stop. In a just world, the instigator who perjured herself would be sued for defamation and loss of earnings by the men. Those fellows have been to h*ll and back and deserve to live their lives to their fullest potentials.
What an utter farce Hockey Canada is. First they tried to bury it all by using money parents paid so their kids could play hockey to pay off the victim, now they’re showing us all how righteous they are by banning them. Perhaps they should be the ones facing a court…
Only place any of them should be playing hockey is Russia.
Actually nothing agist about it. No one asked you your age. As I implied earlier, it is TMI.
@Anonymous at 1113am. I’m 23. Thanks for being the typical ageist conservative.
The court of public opinion isn’t the court that matters…my question is how many of the 70,000 signing the protest letter have any interest in sports much less hockey?
Five innocent players get their careers back on right path after being railroaded
Will the pathetic news outlets ever reach the point where they stop using this group of young men as headlines to make money from retelling of old news! There are so many sports to write about and talk about, move on already!
Ben, you are the only person who used the word “everyone”.
And thanks for confirming which generation you fall under. Quite revealing.
@Anonymous 1029 am. Everyone my age isn’t part of what you call your hookup generation. If you look at STATISTICS and FACTS, you would realize that. Maybe this is Freudian guilt on your part.
Stop harrassing people because you did not approve of the court outcome.
It is not protest, it is criminal harrassment.
We will see more of these false claims with this quick hookup generation and their materialistic Instagram way of viewing life
Leave the guys alone were they not acquitted, if i remember correctly ,wasn’t the woman found to be full of it,,, so what’s the problem, people think they have a right to say what other people should and shouldn’t be doing , MiND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, THEY WERE ACQUITTED