Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart made his first NHL appearance in almost two years on Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. But apparently you would not know why if you were watching the game on ESPN+.

Carter Hart was one of five Canadian hockey players accused of sexual assault in a 2018 incident after the national team won the world juniors championship. The surrounding scandal rocked the hockey world for years with the revelation that Hockey Canada had a reserve fund to pay out settlements for sexual assault claims.

In 2025, seven years after the alleged incident, Hart and the four others stood trial on sexual assault charges. However, the judge threw out the case and acquitted the players without a jury trial, deeming there to be insufficient evidence.

The NHL allowed the players the ability to return to play on December 1st, and Hart was the first to take the ice again for the Knights on Tuesday. And while the players were acquitted, the NHL’s statement on their re-admission to the league said the events were “deeply troubling and unacceptable.” The statement added, “The League expects everyone connected with the game to conduct themselves with the highest level of moral integrity. And, in this case, while found not to have been criminal, the conduct of the players involved certainly did not meet that standard.”

However, according to Front Office Sports, the ESPN broadcast only mentioned the sexual assault case or Hockey Canada scandal with a pregame graphic and chose not to mention the case at all during the game.

crying dude they put this up before the game pic.twitter.com/3dtkrfjQZ9

— Buck (@BuckPanic) December 3, 2025

Hockey fans on social media were vocally frustrated with what they saw as overly positive coverage of Carter Hart from the broadcast that chose to not bring up the controversy around him after the first puck dropped.

Am I crazy for thinking the ESPN broadcast has been very very pro Carter Hart, like weirdly going out of their way to hype him up over small things.

— Mike Bartner (@MikeBartner) December 3, 2025

ESPN continually trying to frame Hart’s return as some feel-good, heartwarming story is just disgusting. Capping it off with them interviewing him is just icing on the shit cake. Career ender cannot come soon enough

— Hockey Seanie (@HockeySeanie) December 3, 2025

fuck you @espn for acting like carter hart is some kind of hero making his return to the NHL.

— a (@bedsyology) December 3, 2025

lmfao the espn crew treating every single routine save carter hart makes like its the most incredible thing they’ve ever seen. what a joke.

— alyssa (@aturnz11) December 3, 2025

ESPN framing Carter Hart’s return like he battled back from a career ending injury lmao

— Ty (@thaibrodee) December 3, 2025

According to a closed captioning search, ESPN did acknowledge the sexual assault case involving Carter Hart and four other Canadian junior hockey players on both SportsCenter and The Point on their linear networks. However, to not tell that story during the game broadcast, when the most eyeballs would be on Hart, would be a serious mistake.

This was one of the biggest stories in the hockey world for multiple years. And the return of these players to the NHL is still clouded in controversy given the NHL statement and extensive scandal throughout Hockey Canada. Earlier this year, the Golden Knights revoked the credentials of Mark Lazerus from The Athletic when he asked about the case, showing there is still an effort to suppress talking openly about it.

Yes, Hart and the others were acquitted and have been allowed to return to hockey. But not telling the entire story around his absence and return does a disservice to everyone.