Vegas Golden Knights Ban Reporter for Question on Carter Hart
Carter Hart could potentially sign with the Golden Knights this off-season, and now, the team have banned a reporter for raising questions over it.
After going through a trial, the NHL have officially allowed five players involved in the Team Canada controversy to return to the NHL, and at this point, it appears as though goaltender Carter Hart is the one drawing the most interest as a free agent.
The former Flyers netminder has been linked to many teams, but lately, it's been narrowed down to Carolina and Vegas as the potential landing spots for the talented goalie.
Golden Knights ban reporters for Hart based questions
Obviously, bringing in any of the five players will carry baggage, and if a locker room doesn't have good leadership, the backlash and criticism that will no doubt come with the signing could be a bad thing for a team.
As a result, The Athletic sent reporter to both Carolina and Vegas to see how things are going on the Hart front, with Mark Lazerus detailing the story of the Golden Knights banning a reporter for addressing the potential Hart signing, as well as not making Head Coach Bruce Cassidy available for a one-on-one interview.
On the other side of the country, the Golden Knights took a different tack. The team declined to allow head coach Bruce Cassidy to speak to The Athletic one-on-one after learning of the topic. Several minutes later, before Cassidy began a news conference, the spokesperson pulled an Athletic reporter out of the room and told him to leave the team's practice facility immediately. The Athletic's press pass for that evening's preseason game was revoked. The spokesperson said The Athletic had «ambushed» Noah Hanifin during routine locker-room media interviews that morning and the team was not «comfortable» allowing the reporter to cover the game.
According to a Golden Knights spokesperson, the reporter ambushed Hanifin during their conversation with questions about Hart, revealing that they were no longer comfortable with them covering Vegas' pre-season game.
Vegas knew that any interest in Hart would come with controversy, and this report shows they simply weren't ready for the backlash, so now, we wait and see whether or not the team continue their pursuit of the polarizing netminder.
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