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Report: “Several More Months” Until a Carter Hart Trial Date
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A Carter Hart update from Robyn Doolittle at Canada’s The Globe and Mail:
Five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team who are facing sexual assault charges in connection to an alleged attack on a woman in a hotel room room have elected to have a trial by jury.
The players, who will be tried together as a group, were granted their request during a court appearance Tuesday in London, Ont. It will likely be several more months before a trial date is scheduled.
Nobody expected a Carter Hart resolution anytime soon, but it feels like this thing is crawling at a snail’s pace. Doolittle explains in her story that the case is back in court on March 5th, but without players. She describes it as “procedural matters, such as trial scheduling.” It goes to superior court up there because a jury is now involved.
As far as how Hart’s situation is affecting the Flyers currently, he’s on “non-roster status” and the team received cap relief, about $1.7 million in total. He’s in the final year of a deal paying just under $4 million and is set to become a restricted free agent. The NHL hasn’t levied any kind of sanction on any of these players, and Gary Bettman said recently that they would become free agents, so you’re likely going to see a situation where the four NHL guys are non-tendered and then no teams touch them in free agency until the trial concludes.
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