The five NHL players found not guilty of sexual assault in relation to an incident following the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships were officially reinstated by the NHL last Thursday. They have been declared UFAs, and will be able to sign new contracts on October 15th and allowed to play in December.
One of these players, goaltender Carter Hart, had been speculated to perhaps be on the radar of the Edmonton Oilers, as they have been rumoured to be looking for a change in net. And could have been targeting a lower cap hit potential reclamation project. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, however, this is not the case.
In an edition of “NHL Insider Notebook” for B/R Open Ice, Seravalli revealed that Hart will not be signed by his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, nor his hometown Edmonton Oilers.
The career of Carter Hart
Hart grew up in Sherwood Park, just 20 minutes from Edmonton, and played minor hockey with the Sherwood Park Squires of the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League, winning MVP and Top Goaltender awards in the 2013-14 season. Hart then played his junior hockey career with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League, before being drafted by Philadelphia in 2016.
Hart’s NHL career had been up and down, but he had seemingly settled into being a dependable starting goaltender before he, along with Dillion Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Michael McLeod, were ordered to surrender to police in London, Ontario to be charged with sexual assault in January of 2025.
Why would the Edmonton Oilers have pursued Carter Hart?
Edmonton has been no stranger to taking on players with off-ice issues. In 1985, they signed forward Craig MacTavish, who had spent the previous year in jail for vehicular homicide. In 2015, they traded for forward Zack Kassian, who had been in and out of the NHL’s substance abuse program. In 2022, the Oilers signed Evander Kane after his contract had been terminated by San Jose for a multitude of off-ice issues, including gambling and assault allegations. They signed Corey Perry shortly having his contract terminated by the Chicago Blackhawks after an off-ice incident. Even general manager Stan Bowman, who neglected reports of sexual assault during his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, was given a second chance by the Oilers.
However, it appears Edmonton has no interest in offering a chance to Hart. Seravalli says he’s been told Hart is “a non-starter for the Oilers organization. They’re not going down that path.”
In a further update during the opening media availability for the Oilers’ training camp, Bowman himself put a stop to this by saying the team is not looking at that situation.
The door on another hometown kid guarding the net for the Edmonton Oilers seems to have been closed by these latest updates.
