Five players involved in Hockey Canada scandal could still receive offers

Regarding whether four players from Team Canada who played in the NHL during the 2018 World Juniors would return to the league, no one has ever provided a definitive response. Now, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has provided some clarification.

In total, five players from Team Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championship have been charged with s---al assault stemming from an alleged incident during a party a couple of months later. One of them, Alex Formenton, already left the league to play in Switzerland. The others - Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames, and Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils - have all been on leaves of absence from their respective teams since just before the charges were laid. All are pending restricted free agents, and, under normal circumstances, would need a qualifying offer from their teams for their rights to be retained. Many were wondering if this would be the case with these four. NHL Commissioner Bill Daly has clarified that it most likely will be. Offers need to be in by 5 PM ET on June 30.

Even though it's unlikely that any other NHL team will sign any of these players while the legal process is ongoing, they become unrestricted and are free to sign with any team in any league in the world if they do not receive a qualifying offer. If a goalkeeper the caliber of Carter Hart is available, it's difficult to envision a KHL, SHL, or Swiss National League team passing up the opportunity to make an offer. If Hart accepted it is still up in the air.

These teams in question must make a difficult choice. At this point, no one has been found guilty of anything, but keeping any of these people could result in money being locked up in assets that won't be available for a while.

Source: Blade of Steel
Teams have huge decision to make soon on four players from 2018 World Juniors