Five players who were found not guilty of sexual assault at trial will soon be eligible to sign with NHL teams; one aggressively barred a reporter from asking questions about it.
The Vegas Golden Knights barred a reporter from their practice facility after he asked one of their players about the sexual assault trial that embroiled five members of Canada’s World Junior hockey team.
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The Knights are reportedly among a short list of suitors to sign one of the five. Goaltender Carter Hart was granted an indefinite leave of absence from the Philadelphia Flyers in January 2024 to deal with the charges against him and hasn’t played since.
Mark Lazerus of The Athletic wrote Thursday that he asked Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin about the so-called “Hockey Canada 5.” Hart and teammates Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were part of the Team Canada contingent celebrating their gold medal win at the 2018 World Juniors when they were accused of sexually assaulting a woman in London, Ontario.
The Golden Knights asked me to leave their practice facility and revoked my credential because I asked one of their players about the Hockey Canada 5.
Their sensitivity underscores the dicey nature of the decision VGK and Carolina are facing.
My story:https://t.co/p6QnWBefHQ
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) September 25, 2025
Writes Lazarus: “The team declined to allow head coach Bruce Cassidy to speak to The Athletic one-on-one after learning of the topic. Several minutes later, before Cassidy began a news conference, the spokesperson pulled an Athletic reporter out of the room and told him to leave the team’s practice facility immediately. The Athletic’s press pass for that evening’s preseason game was revoked. The spokesperson said The Athletic had ‘ambushed’ Noah Hanifin during routine locker-room media interviews that morning and the team was not ‘comfortable’ allowing the reporter to cover the game.”
Lazarus contested the Knights’ characterization of his “ambush.”
“Hanifin, for his part, showed no irritation at the questions (he was one of only two established players who made himself available for interviews that day),” Lazarus wrote. “He said any player who joined the team would be shown love and support.”
Lazarus added that the Carolina Hurricanes, who are also reportedly considering signing Hart and/or McLeod, “acknowledged the gravity of the situation and were open to talking about it.”
After the players were acquitted of the charges in July, the NHL allowed them to sign contracts in October and begin conditioning in November, according to The Athletic.
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