Editors note: This story contains mention of sexual assault. Readers discretion is advised.
Cal Foote, who played for the Nashville Predators for 24 games during the 2022-23 season, was one of five former Canadian junior hockey players found not guilty on Thursday in a sexual assault case that occurred in 2018.
Foote, alongside Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Dillon Dubé, were all accused of engaging in the sexual assault of a woman anonymously known as E.M. She claimed she had been sexually assaulted over several hours in a hotel room in London, Ontario, in June 2018.
The players were in London to celebrate their Gold Medal victory at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, which was held earlier that year in Buffalo, New York.
Ontario Supreme Court Justice Maria Carroccia said during the decision on Thursday that she did not find E.M.’s evidence “credible or reliable."
More specific details to the case and the ruling can be found here:
Foote was drafted 14th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017 and bounced between the NHL and AHL for six and a half seasons before he was traded midseason to Nashville. The Predators dealt forward Tanner Jeannot to Tampa for Foote and five future draft picks.
During his time with the Predators, he scored four points in 24 games. In the offseason, he signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Devils but spent the bulk of his time with the organization in Utica, playing for the AHL franchise.
In January 2024, when the sexual assault allegations were made against Foote, the Devils granted Foote an "indefinite leave of absence from the team," but did not re-sign him.
He has spent the last season with Liptovsky Mikulas HK in the Slovak Extraliga, the top professional hockey league in Slovakia.
None of the accused players were active in the NHL last season.
