When Carter Hart and four other players were acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial in July, rumors started swirling around a lot of teams, including the Vegas Golden Knights. The Athletic's Mark Lazerus spoke with Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin about adding Hart to the locker room but was promptly removed from a press conference before asking Bruce Cassidy about it.
“Hanifin, for his part, showed no irritation at the questions (he was one of only two established players who made himself available for interviews that day). He said any player who joined the team would be shown love and support,” Lazerus reported.
“Whenever you’re in a locker room with guys, you’re brothers, you’re family,” Hanifin said. “You’re trying to take care of each other, no matter what’s going on, good or bad, off the ice. You want to make sure that when guys come to the rink, they feel they have the support and that they’re part of it. That’s a huge part of being on a team.”
“Everyone that’s in this room right now, everyone has lives away from here. They have families; they have kids. When you come here, you’ve got to make sure everyone’s doing well mentally and feeling good. And if someone needs a hand or needs someone to talk to, that’s what your teammates are there for.”
Golden Knights' response to Carter Hart questions
Lazerus then went to head coach Bruce Cassidy's press conference, which led to this interaction. “The team declined to allow head coach Bruce Cassidy to speak to The Athletic one-on-one after learning of the topic. Several minutes later, before Cassidy began a news conference, the spokesperson pulled an Athletic reporter out of the room and told him to leave the team’s practice facility immediately.
“The Athletic’s press pass for that evening’s preseason game was revoked. The spokesperson said The Athletic had ‘ambushed' Noah Hanifin during routine locker-room media interviews that morning, and the team was not ‘comfortable' allowing the reporter to cover the game.”
The Golden Knights gave Adin Hill a massive extension last year, so they are not in desperate need of a starter. But they are still connected to Hart for when he is eligible to sign.
The NHL deemed the five Hockey Canada defendants eligible to sign on October 15, practice with a team starting November 15, and play on December 1. Michael McLeod and Hart have also been connected to the Carolina Hurricanes.
