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Carter Hart Not Guilty of Sexual Assault as Hockey Canada Trial Concludes – Does He Have a Future with the Flyers?
Published:
Carter Hart and his former Canada teammates were acquitted Thursday in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case:
Hart testified back in May that he received consensual oral sex from the woman at the center of the case. “The gist was (Michael McLeod) was with a girl back at the hotel who wanted to have sex with some of the boys. I was open to sexual encounters. As a single guy, I was having a good time that weekend. I was open to it,” he told the court. He also said that he texted teammate Dante Fabbro and told him to come to the hotel room because Fabbro was one of the few players on the team that was single at the time. Fabbro did not end up going to the room, while Hart recalled being there for an hour and that the alleged victim, known as “E.M.,” was willingly engaging in sex acts with the players.
The question now is whether or not Hart has a future with the Flyers, who did not tender him an offer last June when he was a restricted free agent. That resulted in Hart becoming a free agent.
The Flyers, as you know, do not have a franchise goaltender and have not had a franchise goaltender since the Ron Hextall days. Hart was the closest thing to it before the Hockey Canada scandal erupted. He turns 27 in August, and in the 2023-2024 season finished with a .906 save percentage and 2.80 GAA. The Hart/Sam Ersson tandem was working very well, especially through the early part of the year when the Flyers were exceeding expectations and winning games. Now they’ve got a goaltender stable that doesn’t include a bona fide NHL #1, barring a leap in quality from Ersson.
On one hand, Hart was found not guilty of sexual assault and is a free man. Maybe there’s a counter suit for defamation or something similar. But he arguably is guilty of putting himself in a bad situation, of making questionable choices and displaying poor judgment. That’s the real sticking point for the Flyers (and other possible NHL suitors), who will now have to consider the on-record testimony and how it may be received by the female portion of the fanbase especially. Does the net positive outweigh the net negative? Does the white male fan demographic, a large and more conservative one, care about the scandal? Is this the Flyers’ Michael Vick? Is it the hockey Matt Araiza? Furthermore, would Cart even entertain a return if the Flyers made him an offer? Plenty of questions, maybe some answers in the near future.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com