Team Canada Junior 2018: Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League on the verge of suspending eight players from the league?
Several months ago, the NHL began an investigation into Team Canada 2018, in which eight players were accused of being involved in a highly disturbing incident concerning a young woman in Ontario. According to the excellent Frank Seravalli, we appear to be nearing a conclusion in this matter.
During "The DFO Rundown" podcast on Daily Faceoff, the journalist mentioned that the league could make an announcement regarding this issue sooner rather than later.
Seravalli goes even further in this matter. He believes that NHL teams are well aware of the situation and that some are currently internally preparing for it.
As pointed out by Marco Normandin from the website Habsolumentfan, Seravalli's response when asked if he believed teams were preparing to see their players suspended is revealing:
According to the well-gathered information by the columnist from HF, eight players from the 2018 team appear more suspicious than others.
Then, there are players who have publicly stated through a press release that they have nothing to do with this incident (6): Conor Timmins, Robert Thomas, Taylor Raddysh, Sam Steel, Brett Howden, and Maxime Comtois.
There are also players who have publicly stated through their lawyer or agent that they have done nothing wrong, without specifying whether they were involved in the incident (3): Dillon Dube, Jake Bean, and Carter Hart.
Finally, there are players who have simply not commented on the situation so far (5): Drake Batherson, Boris Katchouk, Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod, and Tyler Steenbergen." - Marco Normandin
It will be interesting to see if any suspensions will indeed take place and, more importantly, to finally know which players are involved. Afterward, it remains to be seen if any legal charges will be added to the NHL's penalties.
| POLL | ||
What sanction would you impose if the facts are confirmed for the eight players involved? | ||
| Banned for life | 93 | 27.9 % |
| Indefinite suspension | 129 | 38.7 % |
| One year or less suspension | 67 | 20.1 % |
| Nothing | 44 | 13.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
