The NHL finally gives a timeline for a decision on suspended 2018 World Junior players

It's been over a month since the five former NHLers accused of sexual assault in 2018 following a Hockey Canada World Juniors gala have been found not guilty by a court of law and we're just now getting close to a decision on their professional futures.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told reporters today that a decision on whether or not to reinstate the suspended players will be made "at some point in the relatively near future."

Okay... like tomorrow? Or six months from now?

That's all sort of the near future, right?

What's the sticking point here? I can understand the NHL's reasoning behind suspending these players in the first place, but at this point the justice process played out and the players, in my opinion, have a right to resume their careers. Now, I'm not saying that these players should be back in the NHL, that's up to the teams to decide. Me personally, I wouldn't want my team to sign someone with these allegations on their record but I'm not in charge of an NHL team. NHL teams should be free to make their own roster decision and make their own mistakes.

So while I wouldn't want any of these guys on my team, I still defend their right to seek professional employment in the NHL.