Calgary Flames taking criticism for making a mockery of mental health

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Liam McCormick
January 30, 2024 (3:31 PM)

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Earlier last week, the Calgary Flames made an announcement that forward Dillon Dube would be leaving the team indefinitely to attend to his mental health. The team put out a statement in support of Dube, and asked the public to respect his privacy while he sought professional help. Now, that statement has been proven to be almost entirely false, as the real reason Dube left the Flames was to face charges for his role in the 2018 Canadian World Juniors Team incident. Earlier today, Rick Westhead of TSN released a report confirming Dube's surrender to police and pending charges.

Now knowing the true reason behind Dube's reasoning for leaving the team, many fans are taking exception to the team's explanation of attending to his mental health. Framing his absence for mental health reasons hurts the legitimacy of those who actually leave to attend their mental health, and is a gross reduction of Dube's situation on the Flames' part.

Now, it is possible that some other circumstances led to the Flames explaining Dube's absence as mental health related. It's possible but unlikely the team was aware of the investigation implicating Dube, or Dube knew about it and lied to the Flames. If neither of those are true, then the Flames organization made a gross mistake by explaining this as mental health related.

Below is the exact statement released by the Flames at the time Dube left the team.

Right now, this statement is looming over the Flames organization, and it will undoubtedly be address further by the team soon. According to ESPN's Emily Kaplan, Dube along with the other three NHL players accused will likely have their contracts terminated when police hold a press conference on Monday. For now, we'll just have to wait for more information.