I was hoping not to have to write again before this weekend at least when the All-Star break was upon us unless some major news broke. In fact, two pieces of major news have broken in the last two days on polar opposites of the spectrum. It’s hard to even know where to begin although if I begin with the bad news first, nobody’s gonna care about the good of GM Tom Fitzgerald being extended. Plus, the news of that (conveniently) dropped yesterday before the crap hit the fan on the long-whispered about Hockey Canada juniors scandal with major implications for the Devils on the ice and several individuals off of it.

So, staying with a chronological order yesterday the Devils announced both a multi-year extension of GM Tom Fitzgerald and a new title of president of hockey operations. Clearly the team’s improvement on the ice the last two years after a 2.5 year rebuild when Fitz first took the job earned him additional job security and stature in the organization. I’m not gonna lie, haven’t even watched the presser with Fitz and co-owner David Blitzer yet although FF’ing through YouTube I noticed it began after the ten minute mark, so it’s actually twenty-four minutes long as a PSA.

From what little I have read on Twitter it doesn’t seem like anything else noteworthy or unexpected was said by either party, apart from the obligatory question on head coach Lindy Ruff where Fitz re-emphasized his belief and trust in him. There really isn’t much to say, for my criticism of Fitz not turning up until yesterday to answer the questions (and irony of ironies at this being what brings Fitz back in front of the cameras) by and large he has done a good job to this point, in spite of some more recent moves not working out as well as could be hoped for at the moment. He has earned the right to see this through a bit longer though, no beef with any of that.

Now, let’s get to the…news that I’ve alternately been wary of and yet hoping it eventually does hit the fan. Whispers started a few days ago that something might be coming down when fellow NHL players Dillon Dube and Carter Hart were both given leave of absences from their teams over the weekend, since both were among the players on the 2018 Canadian junior team that has been involved in a sexual assault scandal. We have not just one, but two such players in breakout center Mike McLeod and defenseman Cal Foote, who were both absent from a team function yesterday and practice today before an ominous Tweet confirmed what we all feared:

While officially the players haven’t been named, reports are that five players have been told to turn themselves into the London, Ontario police to be charged with sexual assault. Given that McLeod, Foote, Hart, Dube and overseas player Alex Formenton have all been put on leave by their teams in the last few days, it’s as obvious as the sun in the sky which five players have been named in these reports. Not only do I hope that these players will receive a just punishment if it’s proven they were involved in this or any other type of heinous crime, but I also hope that Hockey Canada is made to be punished for their attempts to cover it up. This alleged incident happened in 2018, and we’re only finally getting the wheels of justice going in early 2024.

I don’t even want to go through the motions of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, even though false accusations are possible and have happened before. Still, something like this which has been investigated for multiple years and now finally charged, you gotta think there’s something to it, especially with all the apparent money and time Hockey Canada spent trying to keep this scandal under wraps. As we’ve seen, there’s an ugly side of hockey culture out there that intersects with normal jockbro culture and incidents like this or the Kyle Beach scandal are a sad inevitability when you have this type of behavior covered up and dismissed for far too long. 

I don’t even want to get into semantics over which of these players were active participants, and who was merely an accessory, if anyone – to me everyone is pretty much equally culpable in this kind of thing whether you were an active participant during the assault, helped cover it up or just didn’t say anything at all. This isn’t the kind of thing where you deserve any commendation for not ratting out your friends, this is, you’re either bigger than that or practically as guilty as they are.

In terms of the Devils themselves, I don’t even want to discuss it – but you can’t sugarcoat the fact that this is going to hurt the team on the ice. Due to multiple long-term injuries on our blueline, Foote suddenly was thrust into the top six whereas odds were he was just going to be another AHL player once we signed him this offseason while McLeod was in the middle of a breakout season, one of the few guys overachieving on this Devils team. 

Of course, none of that matters in the grand scheme of things but the team isn’t going to stop playing, and at this point the Devils have to prepare as if McLeod and Foote are no longer a part of the team. Neither one is under contract after this season, so it makes it easier to move on in case of convictions – or even just a protracted trial where this is hanging over everyone’s heads until a verdict. Hopefully there is a speedy and correct resolution for all of this mess, the wait has already been too long for the victim to have her day in court.