The American Hockey League affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes has added one of the five players acquitted in a high-profile sexual assault case this summer.
The Chicago Wolves announced on Monday on social media that defenseman Cal Foote, 26, signed a standard AHL contract. The roster addition comes just months after Hurricanes fans protested the NHL team’s reported interest in two of the other defendants.
The Wolves’ governor and vice chairman, Wendell Young, tells Front Office Sports that Carolina has had full control over all signings since the teams renewed their partnership in 2024. Young says he first heard about Foote’s potential addition to the Wolves a few weeks ago from the player’s agent, not from Carolina.
“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, but now it’s our duty as an organization, our duty to our fans, to listen to the perspective and understand.”
In July, a Canadian judge found Foote and the other four former NHL players not guilty of sexual assault charges stemming from a 2018 incident during their time on Canada’s World Junior team. A woman identified only as E.M. said the players assaulted her in a London, Ont. hotel room after an event celebrating the team’s gold-medal win.
Foote, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, and Alex Formenton faced one charge of sexual assault, while Michael McLeod was also charged with an additional count of being party to the offense.
E.M. testified that Foote did the splits over her face without wearing pants. “I think I can clearly remember having a penis in my face,” E.M. testified in May. “It would not have been as shocking in my mind if he had shorts or pants on.”
In July, following two mistrials, Judge Maria Carroccia said she found E.M.’s testimony not to be “credible or reliable,” and that the Crown “cannot meet its onus” on any of the charges. After the verdict, the NHL did not immediately allow the players back, but changed its stance in September, saying they could sign with teams in mid-October and begin play in December.
Shortly after the players were reinstated, the Hurricanes were reportedly interested in McLeod and Hart. Fans who spoke with FOS said they told their season-ticket representatives they would cancel their package if the team signed the defendants. An online petition urging Carolina not to sign the acquitted players gathered 1,775 signatures. The Hurricanes eventually moved on; Hart joined the Vegas Golden Knights, and McLeod signed with a Russian team in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Foote’s addition to the Hurricanes organization was comparatively quiet, but has provoked some online backlash. On social media, one Wolves fan called the move “the ultimate backstab” from Carolina management. The comment section of the Wolves’ announcement on X was flooded with hundreds of posts protesting Foote’s signing.
Selected 14th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, Foote previously played for the Lightning, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2021; the Predators; and the Devils. He and the four other Hockey Canada trial players left the league in January 2024 shortly before Canadian prosecutors announced the charges against them.
Foote’s father, Adam, is in his first year as head coach of the Canucks. His younger brother, Nolan, has also bounced between the AHL and NHL, and is currently with the Charlotte Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
While the AHL is the primary developmental league for the NHL, AHL contracts are made with the team, which means Foote is directly signed with the Wolves. Carolina has not released any statements to acknowledge Foote’s signing, and a representative for the team did not respond to FOS’s requests for comment.
Alongside Chicago’s addition of Foote, Tuesday evening, Hart is expected to make his season debut in goal for the Golden Knights. It marks the first NHL game for any of the five defendants since the trial. Some Vegas fans, who also created a petition against signing Hart, have protested online and at games.
Hart will face the Blackhawks, which had their own high-profile sexual abuse scandal during their 2010 Stanley Cup–championship run.
