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The Myth: The Carolina Hurricanes do not support sexual violence because their fans were chanting "No means no" at Carter Hart.
The Reality: The Hurricanes' FANS may not support the actions of Carter Hart, but the organization itself has welcomed one of the other accused players back to professional hockey.
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Carolina management signed Cal Foote to their AHL affiliate on December 1st. There were even reports in September that the Canes were considering signing BOTH Hart and Michael McLeod ahead of October 15th (the earliest day the acquitted could be signed). Hurricanes' supporters caught wind of the rumors, and authored a petition that garnered the support of over 1,700 fans who voiced their concerns over the potential move. Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) reported the team withdrew their interest in the two players due to fan pushback.
But on the very first day the players could return to game action, the Hurricanes quietly forced the Chicago Wolves to sign Cal Foote.
The Wolves’ governor and vice chairman, Wendell Young, told Front Office Sports that Carolina has had full control over all signings since the teams renewed their partnership in 2024. Young said he first heard about Foote’s potential addition to the @Chicago_Wolves a few weeks earlier from the player’s agent, not from Carolina brass. “One-hundred percent not a Chicago Wolves signing,” Young says. “We understand the magnitude of this signing and everything surrounding it. The signing is out of our control..."
The @Canes only pretended to hear the concerns of their fans, but quietly FORCED their AHL club WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT to sign a man accused of sexual assault. They didn't even have the decency to warn the club, instead took the cowardly route of having Foote's agent break the news to the Wolves.
Anyone who followed the case closely knows that Foote was the player who infamously did the splits over EM without consent. That fact was not actually disproven in court. The judge specifically singled out Foote's charges in her ruling. Instead of using the general phrasing "consent was found", as she did for the 4 other accused, she only dismissed Foote's charges labelling them "non-sexual" because of Carter Hart's testimony that he was clothed. It is important to remember that Hart was literally the only witness to say he was clothed and in doing so contradicted multiple 2022 confessions that were omitted from the trial. The prosecution tried to argue that EVEN IF Foote was clothed, to do the splits over an unwilling naked women is sexual in nature. But the judge made it clear: if you are wearing shorts, you can stick your junk in anyone's face at any time.
Carolina Hurricanes fans should be proud that they banded together so that their voices could be heard. But I hope they show that same energy if their own team decides to call Foote up to the big league club. I have faith that they will. They have been consistent in their message; from their petition in the fall to their chant in the Cup Final, Canes fans are not OK with this. There will always be a group that will defend these men (I call them the "fEmAle JuDge gang"), but the sensible fans in Carolina have been able to drown them out.
Having one of these horrible men's name on the Stanley Cup is a tough reality we may have to wrestle with. But let's not pretend the Cup isn't already tainted with the names of men with A similar lack of morals. If the Hurricanes manage to win the series, we can be thrilled for their fans and for keeping the Cup a little less tarnished. But I will not be happy for the management that has made it clear: they don't care about sexual violence.
bisexual who only dated the same gender, bisexuals who only dated the opposite gender, bisexuals who dated many genders, bisexuals who never dated anyone. They all deserve a happy pride month, stop being biphobic.
Carter Hart and four former Hockey Canada teammates were charged with sexual assault in connection to an alleged incident in June 2018 but were acquitted of all charges in July 2025.
Now, the shield stopping Hart from answering questions is likely to stay in place.
.@ECHL can someone tell me why there was only a suspension handed out to solely Max Graham for this altercation? Why not Lansdell? Are we picking favorites?