Here's why a judge let 5 former NHLers skip pretrial arguments in their sexual assault case

A judge is allowing five former NHL hockey players charged with sexual assault in a case that dates back to when they were with Canada's world junior team to skip the pretrial legal arguments for "compelling economic reasons."

In an August ruling made public Thursday, the first day of the pretrial motions in London, Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas granted an application from the lawyers for the accused — Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote — to let them miss the 29 scheduled court days. During those proceedings, lawyers will discuss what evidence will and won't be presented to a jury. 

"The applicants have each provided an affidavit wherein they acknowledge the importance of the proceedings and waive the necessity of attending the hearings," Thomas wrote. "It is clear each of the applicants has a need to work or find work not only to sustain themselves, but to pay their expenses, which at this point include legal fees." 

The charges are tied to an alleged group sexual assault of a woman in a player's hotel room following a Hockey Canada Foundation gala and golf event on June 19, 2018. The identities of the woman as well as two witnesses are also protected under a publication ban.

The men, through their lawyers, have indicated they will plead not guilty and have opted for a jury trial, which is scheduled to start in September 2025. 

In his reasons for allowing the players to not appear in court for pretrial arguments, Thomas wrote all five were "skilled junior hockey players" who stopped playing after being charged with the sexual assault earlier this year. "They are unable to play in the National Hockey League at this point," the judge wrote. 

The Crown did not argue against