Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart will be the first of five former Canadian junior hockey players acquitted of sexual assault earlier this year to play in a professional game in Canada.
Hart, of Sherwood Park, Alta., is scheduled to start for the Golden Knights on Sunday against the Oilers in Edmonton.
The Golden Knights faced the Flames in Calgary on Saturday with Akira Schmid in Vegas' starting lineup.
Hart was not available to the media after Saturday's morning skate because he was supporting Schmid in the evening's game, a team spokesman said.
Hart, forwards Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and defenseman Cal Foote were acquitted of sexual assault charges in London, Ont., in July.
The five have pleaded not guilty to charges related to sexual contact with a woman at the 2018 Hockey Canada gala in London, which celebrated their national junior team's gold medal at that year's world championships.
McLeod, Hart, Dube and Foote were active NHL players at the time of their arrests in 2024.
The NHL said in September that the five players, all of whom were free agents, could sign with teams on Oct. 15 and begin playing on Dec. 1.
Hart, 27, was the only player among the five who signed a contract with an NHL club. He spent his first six seasons in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.
He played his first game for Vegas on December 2. Hart's record with the Golden Knights was 3-0-2 with a 2.26 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
“He looks very comfortable. He's a really good professional,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said Saturday. “Before he played for us, he trained, and that’s how we met him at the rink.
“He's just starting to do his job, so that part has been good. He went to Florida earlier in the year, even though he couldn't play, to get to know the guys. So I think it's been good for him to get to know his teammates. Carter, on the other hand, I'm not sure, he's a quiet guy at first, so probably a little on his own, a typical goalie in that sense.”
If and where players resumed their careers, Canada took notice.
“He did a great job with it. Edmonton will be different. You are back in Canada, his hometown,” Cassidy said. Philadelphia was good. He didn't play that day. We played three games that week. He played two other games, but of course those are all memories for him that only he can talk about, how easy or difficult they are.”
Earlier this month, Foote signed a contract with the AHL's Chicago Wolves, an affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dube recently signed a professional tryout contract with the American Hockey League's Springfield Thunderbirds, an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.
Formenton plays in Switzerland for Ambri-Piotta, and McLeod plays in the Russian KHL for Avangard-Omsk.
In its September announcement about the players' reinstatement, the NHL said that, based on its own investigation and the Ontario judge's decision, “the conduct at issue falls woefully short of the standards and values that the league and its member clubs expect and demand” and “each of the players, based on personal meetings with the league since their sentencing, has expressed regret and remorse for their actions.”
