Comeback Complete: One of the acquitted ‘Hockey Canada Five’, former Calgary Flames forward Dillon Dube, has been biding his time, looking for another shot at the NHL now that he and the four others are eligible to return. He hasn’t gotten that yet, but he’s one step closer after signing an AHL contract with the St. Louis Blues’ affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Dube played last season in Russia, with Minsk Dynamo of the KHL, where he registered just 11 points in 45 games. With the Flames in the NHL, Dube had a couple of 18-goal seasons as a secondary scorer in his six years there. In all, he had 57 goals and 127 points in 325 games, while handing out 387 hits. He was selected in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft (56th overall) by the Flames.
Dube, along with Carter Hart (now with the Vegas Golden Knights), Cal Foote (also signed to an AHL deal), Michael McLeod and Alex Formenton, were all acquitted this past summer of sexual assault charges in a London, Ont. courtroom, in a case surrounding an alleged incident in 2018 at a Hockey Canada event.
McLeod is currently playing with Omsk Avangard of the KHL, while Formenton, still the property of the Ottawa Senators, with whom he last played in 2021, is with Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss League
