The National Hockey League and its players’ association have agreed on punishment for the five players who were acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, barring Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart from playing until Dec. 1st.

The players will be able to sign with teams as soon as October 15th, eight days after the start of the NHL season. All five reportedly met with commissioner Gary Bettman in August, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who was first to report the news.

The agreement between the NHL and NHLPA kept Bettman from needing to hold a hearing and make a ruling, Friedman noted, a similar process that led to Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto being suspended 41 games in 2023.

All five players, who were accused of sexual assault following a June 2018 Hockey Canada ceremony, faced one charge of sexual assault, with McLeod facing an additional count of being a party to the offences. Justice Maria Carroccia found the players not guilty on July 24th after a two-month trial in London, Ont.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the league condoned the conduct of the players, saying their own investigation, as well as the conclusion reached by Judge Carroccia, “the League has determined that the conduct at issue falls woefully short of the standards and values that the League and its Member Clubs expect and demand.”

“Each of the players, based on in-person meetings with the League following the verdicts, expressed regret and remorse for his actions. Nevertheless, we believe their conduct requires formal League-imposed discipline.”

All the players, the league’s statement said, “expressed regret and remorse for his actions,” though the league still felt “formal League-imposed discipline” was needed, highlighting how with the suspension, they will have been out of the league for nearly two years.

The trial saw two sets of juries dismissed in the trial after jurors complained about the defence counsel’s behaviour, first due to alleged improper communications between a defence attorny and a juror on a lunch break. The second were dismissed weeks later “because the jurors felt a bias toward the defense [sic] lawyers after claiming they insulted the jurors in court,” Daily Faceoff reported.

The players had all been active in the NHL as recently as the 2023-24 season, with Formenton last playing in 2022. Both Dube and McLeod played last season in the KHL, as Foote played in Slovakia. Formenton and Hart hadn’t played since the charges were laid in January 2024, though the former signed a deal with the Swiss League’s HC Ambri-Piotta, which runs through Christmas.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.