7/30: Two days after announcing the deal, the SHL’s Färjestad BK has decided to dismiss their contract with former first-round pick defenseman Cal Foote. In a team statement, Färjestad announced that this decision was reached after consulting team partners and stakeholders. The team added that the presentation of the person and his history were misaligned with expectations.
Foote will return to free agency, while Färjestad has acknowledged that dismissing Foote’s contract will not make questions about their choice to sign him disappear. Foote was one of many players involved in a prolific court case revolving around an alleged sexual assault at the 2018 World Junior Championshps, for which he was acquitted in 2025.
7/28: According to a team announcement, defenseman Cal Foote has signed with the SHL’s Färjestad BK for the 2026-27 season. It’ll be Foote’s first season playing professionally in Sweden, and his second overseas.
Foote, 27, was drafted with the 14th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coming from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets program, Foote was believed to be one of the better two-way defensive prospects in the draft. In his post-draft season, Foote registered 19 goals and 70 points in 60 games with a +31 rating.
Furthermore, he got off to a decent start to his professional career. Throughout his first two years, all spent with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Foote scored 16 goals and 59 points in 138 games with a +11 rating. Unfortunately for Foote, despite extended opportunities with the Lightning, his offensive capabilities never transferred to the NHL level.
In two-and-a-half years with the Lightning, Foote scored only four goals and 15 points in 117 games, averaging 13:18 of ice time per game. In the 2022-23 campaign, Tampa Bay moved on, sending Foote, along with five draft picks, to the Nashville Predators for Tanner Jeannot. Even in a new environment, Foote never lived up to his draft billing.
Nashville decided not to tender Foote a contract following his brief stint with the team, and he signed with the New Jersey Devils on a one-year, two-way contract for the 2023-24 season. Later that season, Foote, along with teammate Michael McLeod, was granted an indefinite leave of absence by the Devils before they were charged with sexual assault from an incident during the 2017-18 IIHF World Junior Championships.
The trial didn’t begin until 2025, and Foote, along with the other four defendants, was acquitted on July 24th of that year.
After the trial had concluded, Foote went for his first trip overseas, signing with the Slovak Extraliga’s HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas. He finished the season with three goals and 30 points in 38 games with a -8 rating. Last season, he spent the entire season on an AHL deal with the Chicago Wolves, scoring four goals and 18 points in 48 games with a +10 rating.
Additionally, Foote tallied another three goals and 11 points in 21 postseason contests.