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The allegations made waves across the league.

The protection order application was never served to Caryk or tested in court, and no order was ever made. This newspaper first reported on the allegations in June. Ottawa police began a criminal harassment investigation into the allegations, but to date no criminal charges have been laid against Caryk, who has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations.

As the accusations made their way into the locker-room, Hoffman’s own agent said the writing was on the wall. He was traded away, eventually landing with the Florida Panthers. Caryk, however, was adamant that she wanted to clear her name and would seek legal remedies to do so.

Former Sens’ captain Erik Karlsson was also then traded to the San Jose Sharks on Sept. 13. The very next day, lawyers for his wife and Caryk argued the application for what’s called a “Norwich” order in a Toronto courtroom.

In her ruling, Superior Court Justice Anne Mullins made note of the now exceedingly rare circumstances that led to the application before her: “As this is Canada, the court takes judicial notice of the fact that … Hoffman and Karlsson have recently been traded to different NHL teams, coasts apart, in Florida and California respectively.”

Caryk’s lawyers asked the court to force Karlsson to answer on what basis and with what evidence she formed the belief that Caryk was harassing her online.

They also argued that once the allegations against Caryk became public, she was “vilified” and “publicly excoriated” as the culprit behind the harassment and that her name became “synonymous with hatefully cyber bullying.”