Reports: Carolina Hurricanes will not sign Hart or McLeod

As has been discussed since the beginning of Training Camp, the Carolina Hurricanes had been linked with possibly signing two of the players that have become known as the Hockey Canada Five. While Goalie Carter Hart had been mentioned, the majority of the reporting and speculation swirled around Center Michael McLeod—who last played in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils back in 2024 before being formally charged for his role in the events. He along with the other four were found Not Guilty in their trial, and were eligible to formally speak with teams on October 1st, with signings being able to be filed on October 15th.

Last week speculation had built to the point where McLeod signing was going to be a certainty, and by then the story had started to build outside of Lenovo Center. Mark Lazerus spoke with the Hurricanes who gave basic platitudes about someone “making mistakes” joining the team, with captain Jordan Staal relating it to a situation where he had ended up in jail when he was a lot younger. Pushback had started to build from the fanbase in the forms of a Change.org petition, information being released on how to contact the team, multiple Season Ticket Members contacting their representatives, and general growling on various social media platforms. Luke DeCock wrote a column about it for the News & Observer. All of this was work to try and show ownership that McLeod wasn’t worth the angst his signing would cause.

Thus Wednesday came with those fans fearing the inevitable news that the Canes were going to sign him and the contract would be official on October 15th. However, no word came throughout the day. Then in the evening, Chris Johnston from The Athletic provided word from a source that the Canes may have been backing off. Thursday passed mostly quiet until about 9 PM EDT when Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report dropped the first bite of concrete news:

About an hour later, Cory Lavalette from The North State Journal and The Athletic provided a second—and pretty definitive source—on it. It’s one thing when a national insider says something, but it’s another when a local team’s beat reporter weighs in.

Then to put the final nail on any chance it would happen, Chris Johnston added a third layer of confirmation.

Johnston provides the most detail explaining where the hangup was. No one mentions that pushback from the fans was the cause, mostly a vague reference to the two sides not being able to agree on terms.

The timing of the announcement likely isn’t a coincidence. Friday is the Season 2 debut of the Amazon series Faceoff: Inside the NHL. All the episodes drop at once, and the one featuring Jarvis and the Hurricanes will be the fifth one. The team held an event with select Season Ticker Members with Jarvis on Thursday Night, and the news coming out between that event and the release of the episodes allow for the team to avoid all comment on the situation and to focus completely on celebrating Jarvis’ inclusion in the series. It also allows the team—which will likely skate its most NHL-ready lineup Saturday against Nashville—to focus on next week’s Opening Night without having to answer any questions about the situation.

There may never be an acknowledgement that the fans were a factor in the situation, but there’s little doubt that enough noise was made to where it was noticed outside of Raleigh. Either way, if the Canes are going to bring in a new Center this season, it’ll likely be via trade.