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On Tuesday night, Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart returned to hockey for the first time since Jan. 20, 2024. The game against the Blackhawks stretched to a four-round shootout gauntlet, which dealt Vegas a 4–3 win over Chicago at T-Mobile Arena. Hart was named the third star of the game.
But from the roughly three-hour ESPN+ broadcast, viewers wouldn’t have known why Hart was absent from pro hockey for nearly two years.
Hart, 27, is one of five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team acquitted of sexual assault in a high-profile trial earlier this year. The charges stemmed from an incident in a London, Ont. hotel room in which a then-20-year-old woman, identified publicly as only E.M., alleged the players had assaulted her following an event celebrating the team’s World Juniors Championship gold medal.
When the charges were announced on Jan. 30 2024, Hart was a goalie for the Flyers; he and the other four defendants, three of whom NHL players at the time, took leaves of absence from their respective teams.
Following the players’ acquittal on July 24, the NHL announced it would allow them to sign contracts and begin play in the league starting Dec. 1. In September, before reinstating the players, the NHL called the defendants’ behavior “deeply troubling and unacceptable” and said their conduct did not meet the “standard” of moral integrity.
Hart signed with the Golden Knights—a two-year, $4 million deal—and debuted for Vegas on Tuesday. He is the only one of the five defendants to sign a new NHL contract so far.
The charges against Hart were mentioned on the pregame show on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The Point, hosted by John Buccigross with Hart’s former Flyers coach John Tortorella, aired a graphic of the timeline from Hart’s charges in January 2024 to his Oct. 24 signing with Vegas. Emily Kaplan added reporting on Hart’s involvement in the Hockey Canada trial.
The graphic was also shown on screen at the top of the main ESPN+ broadcast. It was not shown again after puck drop.
ESPN declined to comment on its handling of Hart’s return.
Throughout the night, some viewers complained on X/Twitter about the in-game coverage from Steve Levy and former goalie Kevin Weekes, describing the commentary on Hart as overly positive and lacking context about his absence from the NHL. Among the moments highlighted was Levy’s effusive “welcome back Carter Hart!” call after Golden Knights players swarmed the goalie following Shea Theodore’s game-winning shootout goal.
Wednesday afternoon on the What Chaos! podcast, cohosts Pete Blackburn and DJ Bean described ESPN’s coverage as “glazing.” They added, “They were too heavy handed on the ‘triumph’ part of this … If you had no idea what had happened and just tuned into this game, went in blind, you’d be like, ‘Did this guy beat cancer or something?’”
After the game ended, a Tuesday evening game recap on ESPN.com led with an explanation of the sexual assault charges levied on Hart.
