Although the NHL was quick to launch an investigation into the allegations of gang rape dating back to 2018 which weigh on some of its players, it is far from certain that the conclusions it will draw from the exercise will be enlightening and that penalties will follow.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Two lawyers told The Press that they seriously doubted the league would identify culprits and punish them, whether through fines or suspensions. Two administrators of NHL teams meanwhile confessed that they frankly did not know what to expect from this investigation.
The hockey world has been in turmoil since it was learned last May that Hockey Canada had reached an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victim of a gang sexual assault. The events would have occurred in June 2018, on the sidelines of the annual banquet of the foundation of the organization in London, Ontario.
In a civil lawsuit, a young woman claimed she was assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League players, most of whom had made the national junior team that year.
The overwhelming majority of players in this formation (20 out of 22) play today in the NHL. To date, the identity of the suspects has not been released.
Almost immediately, circuit commissioner Gary Bettman announced the launch of an investigation. Hours before the draft last July, he called the alleged acts “horrible, horrifying and unacceptable”, promising to “get to the bottom of this matter [afin] to have a complete understanding of who did what”.
All players on the team would be questioned, he said. The investigation is being led by Jared Maples, executive vice president of circuit safety. In an interview with Sportsnet, Assistant Commissioner Bill Daly said player interviews were due to be conducted by the end of August and that the league had had access to a written statement from the alleged victim as well as text messages and photos previously provided to London Police.
PHOTO EMMI KORHONEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Bill Daly, Assistant NHL Commissioner
Mr. Daly had expressed the wish that, “in an ideal world”, the investigation would be concluded before the training camps began. However, the 2022-2023 season is now a month old, and nothing has yet come from the offices of the NHL. “We are closer to the end than the beginning, but no timeline has been established for the completion of the investigation,” a spokesperson told us in an email.
Doubts
The Press consulted two experts in sports law to try to see more clearly in this delicate process. Both said they had fairly low expectations about the real possibility of the suspects being identified and punished by the league.
David Pavot, holder of the Research Chair in Anti-Doping in Sport at the University of Sherbrooke, says he is “circumspect about the NHL’s investigative capacity”. “These are facts that happened several years ago,” he recalls. Gathering evidence seems extremely complex to me. »
Two inquiries into the 2018 allegations have so far come to nothing. The first, led by London police, was closed in 2019 without criminal charges being laid. The second, led by a law firm mandated by Hockey Canada, was closed in 2020.
Hearings before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, however, revealed that the exercise had been botched, when barely a dozen players had testified. Both investigations have since been reopened.
Benoit Girardin, president and CEO of LBB Strategies and professor of sports law, therefore insists on the importance for the league, regardless of the conclusions it draws, to demonstrate that it has carried out “a serious and complete investigation “.
“If she does that, she will already score points, he believes. But if she talks about the process in veiled terms and nothing comes out of the investigation, she will lose a lot of credibility. He, too, does not expect sanctions to be imposed.
Mr. Girardin underlines the extent to which the NHL has a complex file in its hands. Commercial interests are inevitably at stake, since most of the potential suspects are promising young players or even future stars of the circuit. Moreover, he believes, the league would have benefited from having recourse to an external investigator precisely in order to free itself from any suspicion of conflict of interest.
Unpublished
Citing the ongoing investigation, the NHL Players Association declined our request for comment.
The collective agreement binding the league to its players specifically invests the commissioner with a discretionary power to impose sanctions following acts committed off the ice. Gary Bettman is therefore entitled to suspend a player, impose a fine on him or even have his contract terminated.
The uniqueness of this exercise lies rather in the cause to be assessed. Consider two widely publicized examples from recent years. In 2014, Slava Voynov of the Los Angeles Kings was suspended indefinitely after being arrested and charged with domestic violence. In 2018, on a similar charge, Austin Watson of the Nashville Predators received a 27-game suspension.
In the Hockey Canada case, no criminal charges have yet been filed. It is therefore up to the league to determine the course of events and to judge the level of consent of the victim.
In the lawsuit she filed, she claims to have been assaulted. The suspects’ lawyers, in a report published by the Globe and Mailrather argued that the young woman had consented to the acts she denounces.
“The league must refer to the legal notions of consent as established by our courts in Canada. She has no choice, ”underlines Benoit Girardin. That said, the verdict to be rendered is not subject, unlike a trial before a court of law, to “the same degree of proof beyond a reasonable doubt”.
David Pavot recalls that there is a necessary “disconnection between the disciplinary and the criminal”. An organization is therefore not required to link its actions to charges laid by the judiciary.
“A criminal investigation can take years, while a disciplinary investigation is much faster,” he says.
Senior administrators of NHL teams consulted by The Press did not hide that they were completely in the dark as to the conclusions to be expected from the ongoing investigation.
One of them suggests that if sanctions were to be imposed, it would be desirable that they occur before the next world junior championship, which will begin at the end of December.
If the league rages, players could appeal; the case would then be heard by an independent arbitrator. They would still have to be supported by the Players Association. One of the administrators interviewed seriously doubts that agents are going up to the front.
Positive
The two lawyers we consulted nevertheless point out that the very existence of the investigation can have a positive impact on the circuit and on the practice of hockey in general.
“It’s very positive to see that sports governance bodies are finally jumping on the bandwagon,” notes David Pavot. They no longer have the choice to take the path of integrity, to put themselves in tune with the rest of society. »
“The leagues have missed too many things in the past, abounds Benoit Girardin. As soon as there are cases of harassment or other physical crimes, even of an economic nature, they will automatically have to trigger a disciplinary process that we hope will be independent. »
All over the world, sports organizations are cleaning up. They can no longer do otherwise, their image is too important.
Benoit Girardin, CEO of LBB Strategies and professor of sports law
However, this does not come with an imperative of results. Even if the NHL’s investigation turned out to be inconclusive, “it’s interesting if it leads to revising the ways of doing things,” continues David Pavot. “It sends the signal that we are whistling the end of the game. »
Although he underlines in broad strokes the positive impact of the survey, the professor reiterates his “measured” expectations. “It’s still a circuit that doesn’t even have clear anti-doping rules…”
Exercise is “healthy,” he says. “But will the mountain give birth to a mouse? We’ll see. »