The National Hockey League has cleared the way for five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team, who earlier this year were cleared of sexual assault charges in a London, Ont., courtroom, to return to the NHL.

The NHL released a statement on Thursday announcing that Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod will be eligible to sign new contracts “no sooner than October 15, 2025, and eligible to play in NHL games no sooner than December 1, 2025.”

The five players had each been charged in connection to an alleged assault on a woman in a London hotel room after a Hockey Canada gala in June, 2018. In July, Justice Maria Carroccia cleared the men of all charges, concluding that she did not find the evidence of the complainant – a woman known publicly as E.M. – to be “either credible or reliable.”

In its statement, the NHL said: “The events that transpired after the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation Gala in London, Ont., prior to these players’ arrival in the NHL, were deeply troubling and unacceptable. The League expects everyone connected with the game to conduct themselves with the highest level of moral integrity. And, in this case, while found not to have been criminal, the conduct of the players involved certainly did not meet that standard.”

However, it noted that the players have been off the ice for 20 months and given the acquittals, the league has decided to reinstate them.