Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote did not receive qualifying offers from their NHL teams and are now unrestricted free agents.
Four NHL players facing charges in connection to an alleged sexual assault did not receive qualifying offers on Sunday and will become free agents.
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, Calgary Flames forward Dillon Dube and New Jersey Devils players Michael McLeod and Cal Foote were pending RFAs. Each player, along with former Ottawa Senators forward Alex Formenton, faces a charge of sexual assault, London Police Service chief Thai Truong announced in February. McLeod also faces a second charge of sexual assault for "being a party to the offense."
The lawyers for the five players say their clients will plead not guilty to the charges. They have chosen to be tried before a judge and jury. The allegations have not been proven in court.
As pending RFAs, their NHL teams would have had to provide qualifying offers by the 5 p.m. ET Sunday deadline to keep their RFA status. A player could have accepted that qualifying offer and be under contract for the following season.
TSN/The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported on Saturday the NHL and NHLPA discussed whether to change how the status of those players was treated during the legal process, but they decided against doing so. That means the players will become UFAs.
Each player had been taking indefinite leaves of absence since late January. The London Free Press and Canadian Press reported on June 11 that the case had been pushed to Aug. 13 to potentially set a trial date. A closed-door judicial pretrial is planned for July to discuss procedural issues.
In February, before London police announced the charges, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he would be surprised if these players played while charges were pending.
"If I were them, I would be focusing on defending themselves," Bettman told reporters in Toronto on Feb. 2. He also said at the time the NHL would wait for the judicial process to take place before deciding further action to take.
NHL free agency opens on Monday at noon ET.
The video report was first published in the article below on Feb. 5: