RUMORS: NHL teams left in the dark during Team Canada investigations
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Travis PolitakisFebruary 5, 2024 (5:40 PM)
As five members of the 2018 WJC Canada hockey team appeared before a court this morning and the London Ontario Police Department met with the media for the first time since the investigation, an NHL insider revealed that although the investigation lasted over a year, the NHL teams were left in the dark during the investigations.
Along with the London Police Department, the National Hockey League and Canada Hockey Organization conducted their own investigations on the situations. Since then, Carter Hart, Cal Foote, Michael McLeod, Dillion Dube, and Alex Forementon have been granted a leave of absence from their teams and were officially arrested and charged on January 26 in London, Ontario.
As prominent NHL insider Elliotte Friedman appeared on the 32T Podcast, Friedman revealed that the NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that teams were left in the dark and they did not disclose any information during their investigations.
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"Bettman did confirm that, which is that they kept the teams in the dark about what they learned ... I know that bothered teams, it bothered some of the teams a great deal."
Although it angered many teams, especially the ones like the Flyers who had players involved in the investigation, it did make sense that the NHL couldn't release any information as it could have both jeopardized the case and resulted in heavy lawsuits brought upon the NHL.
"I know that's not gonna make a lot of people happy or satisfy them, but I'm not surprised in the least bit. You're not going to expose yourself to any legal damage... so that's why I believe these reports are still under lock and key"
This comes as an interesting development as the Flyers were rumored to be involved in trade talks regarding Hart this summer. Did the Flyers know something was coming or were they simply trying to avoid a disaster situation?
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