The CBA, extended last month for four years, grants the NHL commissioner essentially unfettered power regarding off-ice discipline. If the NHLPA had issues with Article 18-A, the union should have addressed its concerns during the recent kumbaya negotiations, which apparently never touched larger systemic issues off the ice.
Now, the union’s words ring hollow in advance of Gary Bettman’s decision whether to readmit the Canadian Five to the NHL after Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were found not guilty on July 24 by Judge Maria Carroccia following their trial in Ontario, after being charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her London hotel room in June 2018 following a Hockey Canada event.
In this case, not guilty does not equate to innocent. That is my opinion, just as it was the judge’s opinion that the woman — known as E.M., whose identity is shielded by a publication ban — was not credible in her testimony. I am not an attorney and I am not conversant with Canadian law, but from the moment the judge refused to admit Brett Howden’s texts into evidence, the verdict seemed inevitable.
Here’s the language of Article 18-A.2:
